Ordinary To Extraordinary
by Eliza Ghost
Summary: HA isn't a typical school, and this isn't just a typical school year. Only the most talented kids in LA get in, and now HA is holding some new events; plays, programs, and projects are met with new relationships, drama, but most of all, fun. NOTE: I MADE A MISTAKE ON THE LAST CHAPTER THAT I'VE JUST FIXED. PLEASE REREAD THE CAST LIST.
1. I Hope I Get It

**A/N: Hi! I almost can't believe I'm doing this but…I'm holding a Victorious (which I obviously do not own) OC contest! On the off chance that any of you read my other fics or read on my profile about the ones I'm planning; don't worry, I'm not abandoning those at all. I'm just excited for this one as well. Sorry if the A/N on the apps at the end is really long, I just wanted to inform you guys. The first part of the chapter leads up to the applications but also lets you see what my writing is like, so you can see if you want to enter or not. Thanks in advance to everyone who does!  
>Oh, imagine the below as narrated by your entering OC. At least, that's what I intended it for.<br>**

"You'll be great," my mom assured me as she parked her car in an open spot at Hollywood Arts High School, where I had an audition that day. As the "Arts" part of the name implied, this wasn't any normal school, it was a performing arts school. Kids went there to specialize on talents ranging all over the art spectrum, from acting and singing to music composition and puppetry. Yeah, there were a lot of things you could get into the school for, but it wasn't easy. You had to be unbelievably talented (or just _really_ lucky and charismatic) to get in.

That's why I was there; I was auditioning for a spot in the upcoming year's freshman class.

"You can stop telling me I'll be fine," I told my mom, "because I am. I'm fine." I rubbed my palms together, which were sweating profusely from nerves. OK, so maybe I was sort of freaked out then, but hey, that one day would decide the fate of my high school career. No big deal at all…

I pulled open the door to the front hallway of the school and looked around. Asides from the crazy lockers, it looked like a normal school, only better somehow. I guess it was because I knew that despite its appearance, this school was completely different from a normal public school. I had to get in.

I walked slowly down the hallway behind my mom, trying not to look too nervous. Confidence. People always tell me that confidence is one of the most important things to have at an audition. You only get a short window to impress the casting judges, and you'd better hope they liked you.

I took a deep breath as I stopped at the end of a line behind a girl with her arms crossed, standing next to a guy on a cell phone who I figured must be her dad.

"Next!" A voice came from the school's black box once a girl with brown hair had walked out, strutting gleefully to her parents, a relieved smile growing on her face.

The girl in front of me looked at the man who had prompted her to enter. "Dad," she said in an annoyed voice once the guy didn't stop talking into his cell, "I'm up. Move so the next people can get in place. And you _could_ wish me luck or something."

Her dad covered his phone with a cupped palm and smiled, "good luck, Jade. You'll be great."

The girl, Jade, sneered before walking into the black box, closing the door behind her.

Great. I'm next. There's only a few minutes standing between me and the most important audition I've had so far, but I was going to be fine. Better than fine. I was going to make the staff of Hollywood Arts give me a standing ovation, that's how great I was going to be.

I realized that I had been holding my breath. Breathing is sort of important for auditions. Can't look nervous. _Oh, God, I was so nervous._

After a few minutes of hearing muffled voices and what sounded like a scream from the other room, that Jade girl waltzed out of the black box, apparently please with herself.

"Next," the same voice called. My mom gave me a thumbs up and I rolled my eyes, walking into the theater and onto the stage.

I tried to make out the judges sitting in front of me, but thanks to the spotlight, I couldn't see anything besides the microphone onstage before me.

"Hi," I said, "My name is…" Crap, I was doing that nervous thing where you forget your own name. Of course this would happen. I cleared my mind and gave them the brightest, most falsely confident smile I could muster up. "My name is…"

* * *

><p><strong>APPLICATION<strong>

_Name: _(and full and any nicknames)

_Appearance: _(As goes for all, be descriptive)

_Clothing style: (_preferably describe it, without links)

_Talent: _see note below

_Hobbies_

_Family: _(members, relationship with, feel free to include pets. This section may be important.)

_Life Story: _

_Life Drama: _(something that affects them currently and creates drama for them, like parent's divorce or forced to move. It can either happen before the story, or I can start it in the story. No, this will not be the only, or the major, thing going on with your character)_  
><em>

_Personality: _(traits as well as likes and dislikes, but I'm more focused on traits)

_Locker:_

_Favorite subject:_ (Yes, HA does have normal classes like math and English, at least in my world, so feel free to use typical classes if you want.)

* * *

><p><span>Note for Talent <span>(Sorry for the rant, but I thought it was necessary): Alright, I can't stress this one too much. Please don't say that your character is amazingly talented at, say, 5 different things. Pick their main talent, and you can go into specifics, such as "Talents: guitar, especially bluegrass, but is also a fair actress" or something like that. Yep, they can have multiple talents, but they can't be amazing at all of them. I act. I sing as well, and though my acting is one of the few talents I'll brag about, I'll admit that although I have a nice voice, it needs a lot of work. My point? Be realistic please. Sorry if that sounds mean. I just want the characters to come off as believable.

_Note on relationships:_ I'll probably ask for your opinion's on other characters once I have my list, so I can ask for your character's opinions of OCs as well. Yes, I actually will use the relationships you provide, I won't just read it and make everyone generally friends.

_Plot:_ The plot isn't anything major; I mean, it won't be boring, but…pretty much, it's just life at Hollywood Arts, with all the normal classes, electives, (yes, and relationships, drama, and the likes) plus a year packed with lots of special projects and events, including plays and auditions, in school and class (especially Sikowitz's). there will be some out of school things as well, and there are even more things I'll think of, but it's sort of important that I know my characters before I write specific events, right? Right. I promise, I'll make it good (Oh god, I almost said "make it shine" for a second there.)

**I'll accept anywhere from 3-6 characters, but ideally 4. It depends on the characters submitted. There will probably be at least 3 girls excepted, but boys are always welcome as well, as are twins. Just to make things easier, I'll make everyone 16. I also promise that I'll attempt to give every OC the same amount of time, as well as regular characters. I won't favor my OC or anything. You don't have to invent a new character. You can recycle one you've used for other OC contests, in fact, I am (As of now, at least. His name is Dexter Perry, so please don't name yours that. I'll give you info on him when I talk about the accepted characters.) **

**This isn't first come first serve, and even if yours isn't chosen, I may still mention them and have them as background characters, if that's alright with you. I'll let you guys know who I've picked ASAP :)  
><strong>


	2. Luck Be A Lady

**A/N: Hi everyone! No, I'm sorry, this doesn't have my list of accepted characters. I just wanted to give you guys and update and I thought I'd do it with another little "anonymous OC" narration. In my head when I apply for Victorious stories, writers always seem to accept a lot more than they said they would. I thought this was silly, but now I can totally relate to it. I've been bombarded by good characters. I'm not trying to be extra polite or patronize readers while I really think not all of them are great, but seriously, you're making this a hard choice. I want to use so many of them, yet I know that the reason I picked a small number is to give each OC satisfactory attention. **

**I'm really a character driven writer, and it doesn't seem fair of me to accept so many that each OC barely gets any time. I want each one to be there a lot, be really important. Oh, on a final note, last time I said I was going to recycle my OC Dex, but I've changed my mind. I've made up a new one, Matteo. Don't ask why I always make guy characters, I don't know. Anyways, thank all of you SO MUCH for entering. I'm taking this seriously. I'm going to be a nerd and chart out the characters and their apps before I decide. Yes, I am a nerd. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, read on! (Again, insert your character here.) **

I stepped out of the black box and rubbed my eyes. Stepping into the light made my eyes scream, and I took a deep breath. It was all over. I auditioned, and now my high school career was out of my hands and into the hands of some strangers.

"How was it?" It was my mom. She looked almost as anxious as I had been.

"I…don't know. I think I was good. I mean, I forgot my own name in the beginning, but after that I think everything went well." I have no idea how I forgot my own name, even now. I'd had plenty of auditions before, and that never happened. I hoped that the judges hadn't taken points off for that.

Mom cheered, her eyes beaming with happiness. "How were the judges? Did they smile a lot? Were they nice? Do you think they liked you?"

My mom obviously had never auditioned herself. Everyone knows that judges are supposed to appear impartial, you know, keep a poker face. They don't want to sway the auditioning person either way. Sort of like a doctor delivering news, you don't want to give false hope, and you don't want to scare them. Plus, judges aren't supposed to have immediate favorites, I think. In an ideal world, they have the same opinion of everyone while they audition them, or at least, they make it look that way. Oh, and they aren't supposed to clap at the end. They really want it to be impersonal. It's sort of nerve wracking. It makes you feel like some exhibit on display.

"I don't know," I told my mom. "It was too bright, I couldn't see them."

"I'm sure you were great," she smiled. Was I? Man, I really want to get in. I've never wanted something this badly. Now that I've heard all about Hollywood Arts, normal schools just seem…boring. Lacking. Not as good.

I sighed, feeling like the giant pit in my stomach was gone, but I still wasn't totally relaxed. We had been told to wait after our audition to hear more about what would happen. I remember sitting in a cool looking purple chair, waiting for about an hour for auditions to end. I wrung my hands the whole time and half listened to kids talking about their auditions, half listened to my own terrified thoughts.

A man stepped out of the black box, followed by the rest of the judges. "Hi," he said nicely, "If all the applying students and their entourage would please take a seat in the black box, we'd like to go over a couple of things." He held the door open and we all walked in next to our parents. I felt like one of the kids in Willy Wonka entering the chocolate factory.

"Hello everyone," Mystery Judge said again as I took an open seat between my mom and some kid with bushy hair and glasses. "I'm Mr. Eikner, the proud principal of Hollywood Arts. I'd like to thank each and everyone of you wonderful kids for coming out here to audition today. Unfortunately, we can't accept all of you. There's a lot of talent sitting in this room, a lot of potential, and I know each of you will find success in whatever you do. I do wish each one of you the best of luck, and hope you have a wonderful school year, whether you come here or not." I squirmed around in my seat. My nerves were making my really impatient for him to finish his sappy speech. "On a final note, we will have to do some consulting before we make our final decision on our freshman class for next year. Regardless of your acceptance, you will each get a letter in the mail soon with our final list. Once again, thank you and good luck." He smiled and waved shyly, and people started filing out.

I groaned, wanting to know right then if I was in or not. I just had to wait a few weeks like everyone else, and then I'd finally find out.

**A/N: Cut! No, don't worry, I won't make you wait weeks. That's just for the story. I'll let you guys know within a few days, in the form of another anonymous narration chapter. That'll be the last one of those, I promise. Next chapter will show our temporary narrator receiving his/her letter on acceptance. I hope Eikner was alright, I haven't really seen enough episodes to know how he speaks, but I figured he'd give some sappy speech like that regardless. That's what people do when they want kids to stick with something; they butter them up! Anyways, I'll post acceptance next time, and ask for opinions on characters and maybe a few other things, and then I'll start writing. Kk, thank you all so much!**

**P.S; A of this morning, the contest is officially closed. I will not be accepting anymore applications for original characters. I'll try to have my final list up by Friday :)  
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	3. Put On A Happy Face

**A/N: And here it is, my final casting list! This was so hard. It was especially hard with the girls, where there were lots of girls that I wanted to use in addition, but couldn't. I'm really sorry if you don't get in, it's nothing personal. For some, it's just a matter of their life drama or how they fit into the group as a whole. I liked so many of them, really. **

**PS; not all of the characters on the "in" list are actually main characters; 2 of them are background characters of main characters submitted, but those authors will know which is which, I've already talked to one. I just included them because though they aren't main, they are in the same grade at HA, so I figured I should include them. Also, Pinkbull115's character is not listed, but she's a background-ish character and will become a friend to Trina, as I told her, and be a senior at HA. OK, sorry for excessive explaining. **

**So, to announce who gets in is the anonymous narrator character again. Good luck ****:)**

I jumped high on my neighbor's trampoline, enjoying summer. Goofing off was fun, and a great distraction. She and I bounced high, sending her little brother high into the air.

"One, two," my neighbor, Anna, was counting down to our next jump. I giggled and happened to look over towards the street where I could hear a car rumbling to a halt. It was the mailman. He was sticking a gob of envelops into my family's red lettered mailbox. I waited until Anna said "three," bouncing one more time before I slid through the net around the trampoline and ran barefoot to the mailbox.

My acceptance letter was supposed to arrive.

I pretty much slammed into the mailbox, because I didn't leave time to slow down. I stopped to catch my breath, rubbing my hands together. I really hoped it would be in there. It had been weeks of waiting. I was ready to explode from the suspense.

"Please be here," I mumbled to myself under my breath. Before I realized it, Anna was looking over my shoulder in confusion. It took her a second before she realized what I was looking for.

"Is it there?"

I flipped through the stack of magazines and envelops. "Here," I said, shoving a girly tabloid magazine at Anna. There was some notification on official things (aka boring stuff for my parents), a few magazines, the morning newspaper, a card from my grandma, some other strange official looking letter, and some bills. I took the unfamiliar envelop and looked at the purple stamp. It had the logo of Hollywood Arts High School. Yes…this was it.

Still heaving for breath, I ripped open the front flap and tore the letter out, holding it up for a moment, soaking in the excitement. I felt like that letter was baby Simba from the Lion King or something. Alright, maybe I was being dramatic, but hey, it was a huge moment.

I finally unfolded it with shaking hands, skimming over the heading. There was some babble similar to the one that Eikner guy gave us on audition day; they thank everyone who applied, everyone was talented, blah blah blah, wish everyone could get in yadda yadda, information on the impending open house, blah blah, they wish everyone good luck-and there it was. The list.

_And so, we at Hollywood Arts are proud to announce the newest additions to our student body_

_Halley, Cara_

_Halley, Jared _

_Harris, Andre_

_Lee, Jay_

_Lombardi, Matteo _

_Oliver, Beckett_

_Park, Bethany_

_Peragrym, Eve_

_Shapiro, Robert_

_Starr, Dylan_

_Valentine, Caterina _

_Van Cleef, Sinjin  
><em>

_West, Jadelyn_

_White, Kiara_

_Congratulations to all and we look forward to seeing you at the open house,_

_The staff of Hollywood Arts_

Anna, who was reading over my shoulder, looked at the names and gasped.

**A/N: And there it is! Again, I'm really sorry if I couldn't accept you, but congrats to those who got in! I'm hoping to have the first real (no more anonymous flashbacks) chapter up sometime this weekend, set in their junior year from now on. I didn't include Tori becaus ethis is a flashback to before she got in, but don't forget to include her in...what I'm about to tell you about.  
><strong>

**I need to know your character's relationships with everyone else. You don't need to go and list every character and put their relationship and why, just make a list of their friends, enemies (give short answer as to why), acquaintances (on this say if they'll end up liking them or not), and a crush, which you do not need to have. Also, make note if the relationship is not mutual (like, you want to be friends but they hate you or whatever). Of the above, you do not need to include Cara Halley or Jay Lee, and I don't need opinions on AnnaThena (pinkbull115), at least not yet. I'll just assume that most of you love Sikowitz and dislike Trina and Sinjin unless stated otherwise. Feel free to state otherwise, if you want to…Oh, and list the other OCs as well please.  
><strong>

**I'm so sorry for making this long, but I need to show you guys my app for Matteo, my character, so you know what he's like. I encourage you to look at the apps (in reviews) for everyone else who got in as well (well no duh if you have to list them in your relationship list)**

_**Name: **_Matteo David Lombardi (Sometimes called Matt)

_**Appearance: **_He has tan skin and straight dark brown hair. He's medium height, about the same as Andre. He has a slight hook nose and hazel eyes on a heart shaped face. Matteo is sort of duck footed when he walks and he's also fairly muscular from dancing.

_**Clothing style: **_He wears jeans (usually a bit baggy) when it's cold and basket ball shorts near summer. For shirts, usually just plain tee shirts sometimes with sayings on them.

_**Talent: **_He's an awesome ballet dancer. Yep, a male ballet dancer. He can act well in addition, and his singing is alright, but he could really use a lot of training for it to make it truly good.

_**Hobbies: **_Dancing, bike riding, making people laugh.

_**Family: **_Mother; Daniela Lombardi (46). He gets along fine with her, but barely spends time with her because he's rarely home. Father; Anthony Lombardi (49). Matteo respects him and therefore acts more serious around him. Siblings; AJ Lombardi (20) and Katie Lombardi (19). His older siblings tease him about dancing but they generally all get along. He gets along especially well with Katie, since she's also a dancer and the reason he became one. Finally, he got a basset hound puppy (boy) a few weeks before school started named Gidget.

_**Life Story: **_Matteo has lived in California his whole life. When he was 5, he accompanied his sister to her ballet recital and, being a competitive show off, decided that he could dance too, and better. This was the beginning of a love of dance, the reason he goes to HA.

_**Life Drama: **_He gets an injury that could threaten his dancing career.

_**Personality: **_Matteo is a generally nice kid, though a bit of a loner. He's supportive and loves making people laugh, so he sometimes goofs off or becomes the class clown. He's shy at first and is very competitive. He gets defensive at times and is pretty opinionated and impulsive. He's almost always happy even though he's a pessimist.

_**Locker: **_The front is covered by a black curtain that opens to reveal a fun house mirror covering the entire front of his locker. The inside isn't very decorated, unless being plastered with post-it notes counts.

_**Favorite subject: **_Dancing, then science.

**So that's Matteo. Again, sorry for length and not being able to accept everyone. **I hope that you'll read even if your character didn't get in.** I'll update soon! Bye!**


	4. Louder Than Words

**A/N: Hi! How's it going? Well, here's the first official chapter. There will be more to come later, and remember, this is their junior year. I hope you enjoy and please review. Oh, I made Tori go to HA from the beginning of her Junior year for plot purposes, even though they haven't had the Big Showcase yet. Just play along. This chapter is mostly to introduce the characters, next chapter will have actions and more two sided conversations. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Victorious, Dance Moms (mentioned), or any of the characters besides Matteo. The others belong to their rightful owners, and the others belong to Dan. **

"Is it on?"

The students of Hollywood arts all looked up as the sound of a familiar, awkward voice filled their ears.

"Yes, Sinjin, you're pressing the button right now."

Everyone, especially Jade, groaned at the school's noted oddball, but waited to hear the announcement.

"Oh," Sinjin Van Cleef's voice rang throughout the halls. "Um…hello, Hollywood Arts! Welcome to a new school year." There was an obvious pause, which Jade rolled her eyes at. Sinjin was probably looking down to read his notes. "Oh, right. Homeroom lists are posted in the main hallway. Please see Lane if you need an extra copy of your schedule. The bell will be ringing in five minutes, and from there you are to go to your first class where your teacher will tell you some additional information. That's all. Uh…bye."

Robbie Shapiro looked around and clapped awkwardly. Jade cut off his clapping with a single menacing glare. "What?" Robbie asked innocently, "I was just trying to be enthusiastic. No need to get snippy."

"What you need," Rex interrupted, "is a girlfriend."

"Rex!"

Before anyone had time to roll their eyes at the puppet, Lane came on the speaker to make up for Sinjin's less than exciting welcome back. "Good morning, Hollywood Arts! This is Lane, your guidance counselor, and I just wanted to wish you all a great school year and Welcome back!" This time everyone, not just Robbie, burst into applause. It was great to be back.

The talented kids of Hollywood Arts gathered to talk about their summers amongst lockers decorated in paint splatters, lights, music notes, and even chewed food and scissors. They deposited some stuff into each of their lockers before excitedly walking off to first period.

"Yes!" Dylan Starr exclaimed as she checked out her schedule.

Dylan was a thin, tan girl with golden blond hair and London blue eyes. She was a comforting, sympathetic kid who avoided Lane because she hated talking about feelings. She acted confident but really was a little bit self conscious with sort of low self esteem when it came to her talents and looks.

"What?" Dylan's friend, Beth Park asked.

"I have Sikowitz first period!" Dylan cheered.

"That's great!" Beth gleamed, blushing a strand of her long, wavy black hair out of her face, "so do I!"

Dylan and Beth smiled, comparing the rest of their classes on the way to first period.

* * *

><p>"Greetings, my gaggle of little improvisers," the strange man with crazy hair said, climbing through the window. He sat down in a plastic chair and picked up a coconut, sucking on the straw jammed in it. "I'm Sikowitz, in case any of you transferred here over the summer…or got your memories erased in the past three months."<p>

The twelve students in his class all greeted him in return. In addition to Dylan and Beth, seats were taken up by Cat Valentine, Tori Vega, Andre Harris and Robbie Shapiro. In the neighboring row on the other side of the room sat Jade West, her arms crossed in annoyance while her cheerier boyfriend, Beck Oliver, put his arm around her. Behind them, Kiara "Kiki" White was sitting in between Matteo Lombardi and Jared Halley. The final student, Eve Paragrym, settled down in a seat next to Cat, eager for the class to start.

"So," Sikowitz continued, "why don't we get this school wide first day garbage out of the way and get down to some acting?" The kids nodded and smiled in approval.

The teacher groaned as he looked at his instructions. "Apparently I am supposed to take attendance and each of you are supposed to introduce yourselves when called so you may all get to know each other." He shook his head like this was some ridiculous procedure. "Jared. Go."

A skinny boy of medium height with olive skin, dark brown eyes with hair (which was in the way of his angular face as usual) to match stood up. He, like the rest of the kids, was a junior, and a lot of girls at Hollywood Arts were attracted to him. "Hi," Jared smiled openly, "I'm Jared Halley. Some of you guys know my twin sister Cara. She's an actress here. I guess I'm a pretty chill guy, and I forget things easily, but I can hold a grudge. Even though I hate parties, I talk a lot, or at least people tell me I do."

"No, really?" Jade said from her seat.

"Anyways," Jared said, eager to finish after Jade's quip. He was one of the many kids at Hollywood arts who was afraid of her. "I'm here for rapping and I play the drums," he finished, quickly sitting back down.

"Wonderful, Andre Harris, tell the good kids about yourself."

Andre stood up enthusiastically and nicely introduced himself to the happy audience. Pretty much every kid at Hollywood Arts who knew Andre was on good terms with him, and if they didn't know him personally, everyone knew him from his music playing at all the school's events.

"Matteo Lombardi," Sikowitz read in a fake Italian accent.

This boy was just slightly shorter than Andre, with the typical tan skin (well, slightly tan, he wasn't as tan as Jared or Dylan) and richly dark, chocolate brown hair of his Italian heritage. He had a slight hook nose and pretty hazel eyes. His thick hair went to about ear length on his heart shaped face, similar to the length of Robbie's hair minus the curls. "Hey. I'm here for ballet dancing." Matteo could swear that at least one snicker went though the crowd. "I got into dancing when I was five," he continued. "I went to my sister's ballet recital, and my mom says I jumped onstage because I wanted to show off and be better than her. I don't remember it, but I guess I was competitive even back then. I've been dancing ever since, but I like doing comedy, too. Is that enough?" He turned to Sikowitz who nodded, so he returned to his seat.

This period, because it was the first of the day and of the school year, was extended, but Sikowitz was still eager to wrap up the introductions and move on to his own agenda. At least he had coconut juice to sip while he listened, and he did like all the kids, which was why he was excited to tell them his own information.

Beck went next, casually introducing himself while Jade periodically added her own thoughts, before Sikowitz playfully called Jade out on her "delightfully sulky" nature.

Beth stood up next and told her classmates about herself, but keeping inside the events of the last summer.

Beth was dropped of alone as a kid one day by her drunk, alcoholic parents, told that they would return in a week. She waited, and after a week returned to her house as they told her to. It was then that a neighbor told the girl that they had died of alcohol poisoning. Crushed, she took everything important that had belonged to her parents and lived on the streets. She was generally liked by other street kids for her intelligent, sympathetic nature, until one day when a woman name Heather caught her at age seven trying to sell gum.

Beth initially refused Heather's proposal of living with her and her husband, but eventually she joined them, welcomed with opened arms. Her new father was a successful lawyer named Liam, and he spoiled his new daddy's girl. Beth sort of felt bad about being spoiled since she wasn't their biological kid, but they never treated her differently and gave her a great home. When she was eleven, they gave her a little sister named Janine, a mature but very playful little girl. She, who shared her sister's intelligence, adored Beth and soaked up the Korean her sister had learned from her biological mother. She also met the boy next door, Jay, a few years ago and now she was a huge part of her life; her crush and very best friend. Basically, Beth had a great life, but this summer, something incredible happened.

She had just been out doing errands when she literally ran into a man. She helped him up, but the guy kept staring at the star shaped birthmark on her hand. He looked shocked and it turned out that it was the trademark birthmark of his family. This man, Mike, was her biological uncle. He got her in touch with her biological grandparents, and they had wanted Beth to live with them and be their heir, but Beth refused, wanting to stay with her adoptive family, but also staying in contact with them. It had been a crazy couple of months in her life and she still didn't know what to do, so instead, the pretty Korean-American girl told her class about surface things; her little sister, her best friend Jay, her baby fox Fluffy, and her true passion; songwriting.

"Very good," Sikowitz approved, "we're about half way done now. Would the real Eve Peragrym please stand up?" The guy's paraphrased attempt at humor seemed lost on the kids.

"Hey, guys!" Eve smiled, revealing her front teeth, which very a bit longer than the rest of her teeth. She was a petite 5'3 pale girl with a splattering of light freckles across her nose and messy blond hair that went to about the bottom of her ears. "I'm a dancer and drum player here at Hollywood arts. I like practicing my talents, collecting things from yard sales, video games, pudding, jokes, but not clowns. I'm a strong believer in the whole 'don't judge a book by it's cover' thing. Anyways, I'm excited to be here…but even more excited for dance class." She smiled and sat down, bouncing in her seat and sending a smile at Cat, who was residing in the seat next to her.

Robbie introduced himself next, but ended up having his morning enthusiasm beat out of him between Jade and Rex both heckling him. "I give up, I already know all of you anyways," he said after a particularly mean joke from Rex. "The next person can go."

Dylan greeted everyone. "Hi! My name is Dylan. Yeah, I know, it's a boy's name. My parents were expecting a boy, but then I was born. They wanted to change my name to Demi, Mom says, but my brother Jake asked them why I couldn't keep Dylan, so here I am, now named Dylan Starr." It was apparent from the look on her face when she talked about Jake that she adored her brother. "You know, it's sort of funny that my last name is Starr. My dad always used to love stargazing. He started me on it when I was five. He, uh…" she paused, a frown twitching across her face, "he's the one who got me into guitar. I asked him if he would teach me, and he went out to buy me a guitar and…" She paused, taking a shaking breath. Dylan hated talking about her feelings, but without her saying why she was like this, the rest of the class looked sympathetically at her in the shifted atmosphere. It was less cheery now, and Dylan didn't want to talk about it or ruin the mood of the first day. "Well, you guys don't need to know the rest, but he's the reason I'm here."

Next was a certain perky redhead. "Hi hi!" She squealed. "My name's Cat, like a kitty cat! Isn't that funny? And my last name is Valentine, like the hearts you get on Valentine's day! It's like both of my names are words!" She giggled and then stopped, apparently thinking. "Except for my middle name. My middle name is Hannah. Oh! Wouldn't it be funny if there were some weird alien planet with cute little green aliens and Hannah was a word on their planet?"

"Cat!" Jade yelled when Cat wouldn't stop her bubbly rant.

"Oh, sorry," she frowned. She babbled on for a few more minutes before Sikowitz cut her off and let Tori Vega, the next student, have a go.

"Hi, I'm Tori," she smiled sweetly. "I have a sister who goes here named Trina-and I'd like to say now that we're totally different. For example, I'm more of a singer and an actress, and my sister Trina-"

"Sounds like forks in a garbage disposal?" Rex suggested.

"Well, no," Tori said, insulted that some puppet had been mean to her sister. She hadn't meant to insult Trina's "talent," she just wanted to make sure that coming in here, people recognized her for being different. All of the seniors so far had called her "That obnoxious girl who can't sing's sister." Tori ignored the memory, finishing her introduction.

Finally, Jade gave a very off-putting greeting (which sounded a lot more like a threat) and gave way to Kiara White.

"Call me Kiki," the long legged girl said. The other kids looked surprised, probably from Kiki's shockingly bright green eyes. She also had an exotic tan and black hair that covered a scar on her shoulder that she had gotten in a chemistry accident. She was really daring, and it sort of felt like a reminder of what happened when things went wrong to her. "I'm an acro-dancer. You ever seen Brooke on the show Dance Moms? I'm like her. I surf and skateboard a lot too. I like having fun and you can always trust me with your secrets. I like having adventures. You know," she said suddenly, "I tried to jump off of a cliff when I was ten, but I got pulled back."

"Sounds like you're the type of person who dives into things," Matteo said impulsively. "Sorry. Bad pun."

"Anyways," Kiki rolled her eyes in mock annoyance, "I was born in Australia, but I live here with my grandparents. I'm really glad to get the opportunity to go here and pursue dance."

"Thank you, and we are done!" Sikowitz announced. "Now on to the fun stuff!" The class cheered and gathered onstage.

**A/N: I'm going to finish what I had planned for this chapter next chapter since this one got so long. I really hoped I didn't blab too much about each character, I just had to introduce them. More will be revealed about each of them in the next few chapters. I know not much happened in this one, but now that I've gotten basic introductions out of the way, Sikowitz can announce some of this year's school events and maybe they'll play improv games. Thanks you for reading, and please review!**


	5. Make Them Hear You

**A/N: Hi, guys! Thanks you for the nice reviews. I hope you like this chapter as well. I don't own the slap, the OCs, anyone but Matteo. Hunter belongs to Pinkbull115...who recently added something about Brina to her user name. Nor do I own any of the show tunes that I have been stealing titles from for chapter titles. Any of you catch on to that?**

**Happy reading :)  
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"Alright, children," Sikowitz said, marching back and forth in front of the full stage. "Since I am obligated by contract to announce to you the first day lament, I thought we'd mix it up." He smiled and held up strips of printer paper dotted with black ink. "I've cut the garble into strips. I want whoever receives a slip of paper to make a scene out of it. Entertain us." He passed out a slip of paper to the closest kids and walked to the back of the room. "Feel free to put it in your own words as it suits you. The rest of you take a seat and start plotting."

The kids left onstage scanned their papers and the gears in their heads started turning, trying to think of what Sikowitz might make them read as.

"Alright, Tori…"

"A bunny rabbit!" Cat called.

"Do a British accent!" Jared suggested.

"As some lady who works at a hair salon." This was Dylan's idea.

"I have it!" Sikowitz called, quieting the students. "You are a mother reading a bedtime story to your children who periodically yells at them. Kiki, Eve, and Robbie are the kids."

"Ugly son," Jade muttered.

"Um, alright," Tori said nervously. She skimmed her paper and began before clearing her throats.

She smiled sweetly and took a seat next to Kiara, Robbie, and Eve, who had all gotten down to sit cross legged. "Story, story, story!" Robbie demanded, starting the scene.

"Alright, settle down," Tori commanded. She opened a fake book on her lap as the other girls did their best to act enthusiastic and excited. "I'll read you a story on one condition," Tori explained, staring at her page for something to use. "Tomorrow, you all sign up for The Slap, understand? Everyone at Hollywood Arts has an account, and I'm not letting you fall behind. Stupid Amy from next door already brags about how her son has one, and we don't want her to rub that in our faces too, do we? I can still hear her yammering on about how her kid scored the winning goal at your soccer game." Tori spoke in an annoyed voice. She was getting the hang of this game.

"Mom, Robbie hasn't even passed his bird scene yet, of course he can't pass a soccer ball!" Eve announced.

"What? What is this?" Tori yelled, even though she had no clue what the bird scene was outside of what the instructions told her. "No son of mine fails the bird scene. Everyone _knows_ that you can't audition for any plays until you pass that, Robbie! Where's your head?"

"I'm sorry, Mom," he said sheepishly as his fake sisters giggled at him.

"Enough of that. Story time." Tori shifted on the ground. "Once upon a time, there was a girl named…"

_Pick me, pick me! _Tori saw Cat mouthing from the audience. "Cat. And she lived in an enchanted kingdom called Hollywonderland. There she met, um…her magical teacher, Sikowitz, who would teach her how to combat bad acting, and her wizard adviser, Lane. Cat was in trouble with the king because she forgot to-" She looked once more at her impromptu script, which talked about mandatory locker decorating. "She forgot to decorate her castle."

"This story is boring," Kiki said in her whiniest little kid voice.

"Hey! Hey, what's with all the whining? Be grateful you're getting a story at all, or I won't let you go to the Kick Back next week!"

"But Mom, I have to!"

Tori gruffly answered "then you better shut your pie hole, kid." Kiki quivered her lip and started to fake cry, while Eve and Robbie got into an imaginary argument.

"Whoa!" Tori yelled, but they kept going. "Whoa, whoa! If you don't stop all this nonsense, I'm going to call your father up!"

"No," Eve said, "don't call him!"

"Well you know what happens if you fight," Tori told her, "you get put in the corner. Do you want that?"

"No," They all squealed in near unison.

"Good. Then on with the story."

"Cut!" Sikowitz yelled. "We'll work on the improv. Now that we've gotten all of that out of the way, onto my own announcements!" He had a huge smile on his face. Finally, he was getting around to his own work! "As you know, you must all pass the bird scene. Now, all of you have done this except for Tori, but we'll deal with that next class. I'll give you the script as you leave, Tori. In other news, we will be having auditions for our first play in late October. Be sure to vote on which play you want. Also, the Big Showcase will be coming up in a month. You have until then to prepare your performance. Any song, monologue, scene, or dance must be approved by your elective teachers first. We can give you suggestions if you have nothing. The Big showcase is your prime chance to be spotted by higher ups, so work hard. In other news," his voice gradually filled with enthusiasm, "this is an improvisation class, so let us do some real improv!"

The class spent the next forty minutes doing whatever crazy thing Sikowitz made them do. They were all pretending to be frogs leading a revolution out of a laboratory when the bell rang.

* * *

><p>"Oh my gosh, Hunter Turks is probably the most gorgeous boy I've ever seen," Trina sighed as she waited for the line to Festus' food truck to shorten.<p>

"Him?" Dylan asked, pointing to a senior boy with light brown hair and turquoise eyes.

"Yeah," Trina gushed, "and he's so tan…and he has great abs!"

"You like him?"

"No duh!" Trina rolled her eyes. "Who else have I been talking about? Of course I like him! He's gorgeous."

Dylan shrugged, "yeah, and he seems pretty nice."

"Nice, shmice, look at those eyes!"

"Then hurry up and order something so you can go talk to him," Jared interjected from his place in line, "you might be making googly eyes at some guy, but I'm waiting to order a taco."

Trina tossed her head back and ditched the line, walking over to a table where Hunter sat with Jay, Beth, and a few other kids. "Hey, Hunter," she cooed. "I was wondering if you'd ever want-"

"Oh, that's my phone, hold on a sec." Hunter held up a hand to tell her to wait as he pressed a button on his pear phone.

"Yeah, alright," Trina continued anyway, "I was just thinking that maybe one day you and I could go somewhere, maybe catch a movie or something. You know, or we could do something else, like for instance-"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Hunter interrupted, pointing to his phone before he put in back into his pocket. "My girlfriend. So, what were you saying?"

"Girl-" Trina stammered. "You-have a…never mind!" She stormed off, stopping to rant at Matteo, who just happened to be next in line at the grub truck. "Stupid Hunter says he has a girlfriend. That's fine by me."

"That's cool," Matteo answered, confused. Did he even know this chick?

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm cool," Trina said, trying to act calm, "totally." But man, she still wanted him. Those eyes! And his smile! Sometimes high school social life was torture.

**A/N: I think I've accomplished all of my introduction goals for the moment, so next class will take place at least partially in dance class, meaning some of the original characters won't be there. I doubt I can make a long chapter out of just that, so I'll switch to another class with the rest after. Let me say now, though, not every chapter will have every character. Some chapters will focus on just one or two specific ones, but I figure you guys expected this. So, thoughts so far? Enjoying it? Hope you are and please review.**


	6. My Favorite Things

**A/N: Hey, people. Glad you liked last chapter, I was about worried about mixing improv with school rules. Hopefully I got everyone in character. Anyways, This is the end of the first day of school. I think next chapter will show some of them at home, and that way I can introduce some of their dramas. I hope you enjoy.**

Dylan smiled as she whipped into English class, taking a seat towards the front. She was early; half of the class still hadn't shown up yet. She did recognized Beck, Jade, and Jared from her first period class though, so she decided to pick up her stuff and go sit with them. She happily sat between Jade and Jared, Beck on Jade's left.

"Hi!" She chirped. Jade looked at her like her happiness was completely incomprehensible.

"Why are you so cheerful?" She snarled. Dylan wasn't put off though; despite Jade's viciousness, they had been friends since the middle of freshman year. Dylan could put up with her and found her to actually be pretty loyal. She was friends with Beck as well; Jade had properly introduced them (well, properly as far as Jade's introductions went) early sophomore year.

"You know English is my favorite class, Jade," Dylan reminded her. What better than her favorite class with two of her good friends? It was the last class of her first day of junior year, and it seemed like the rest of the year would be pretty good, too.

Beck was playing with a pencil on his desk, rolling it back and forth. "What did you have before this?" He asked politely.

"Ugh, pre-calculus. It was so boring."

Jared nodded, Beck smiled sympathetically, and Jade scoffed, picturing her new math teacher. Mrs. Debrowski was a plump brunette woman who appeared to be obsessed with dogs, specifically her dog Toby. She was way too enthusiastic about math in Jade's opinion, who could barely keep her eyes open during her class.

"Come on, Jade," Beck grinned, "you had fun in scriptwriting class, didn't you?" Scriptwriting was one of Jade's major pastimes.

Dylan and Jade both gave him the same look.

"Are you kidding?" Dylan said. "With Mr. Gradstein? He's so tough!"

Jared shrugged. "Glad I didn't take screenwriting then. Just had chemistry." Chemistry had to be Jared's favorite class already, and he had spent it listening to Kiara talk about how she only liked science if they got to blow stuff up. It was an awesome class.

He wondered for a second how his sister was faring on her first day, and figured he'd ask her when they drove home. It was his turn to have the car today, so he got to drive, and was glad. He just hoped his mom and her stupid boyfriend weren't home. "I thought Sikowitz's class was pretty fun," he threw out as a discussion point.

Dylan blushed. She had started talking about how her dad got her into guitar in Sikowitz's class. The problem with that was that it would inevitably lead to her talking about her father's death if she continued. "It was fine."

Finally, the bell rang to signal the beginning of class, and the four leaned back in their chairs, looking forward to getting a feel for the class and to going home.

"Afternoon, kids," said their new English teacher, a handsome young man who looked like he was barely out of college. A lot of people seemed not to realize that Hollywood Arts kids had to take normal classes like English and math, but they did. At least they had classes like improvisation and stage fighting. "My name is Mr. Lowry. Here," he added, passing a bucket to a girl in the front row to pass around, which was seemingly filled with candy. Jade made some wise remark on how it was probably poisoned, but even she smiled.

* * *

><p>Matteo smiled as he swaggered into the second floor dance studio. This was his domain. He had grown to like the teacher after having her for two years, and he missed dancing here. Best of all, since he was in advanced dance, there were no guys that showed up just to get girls.<p>

"Let me guess; you're in here to pick up chicks?" Came a feminine voice from his left. It was a senior named Diana with a joking smirk on her face.

Matteo smiled. "The only picking up of chicks I'm going to be doing is into a partnered lift," he explained to the small group of girls giggling, waiting for his response. Of course, he was going to make himself a smart mouth again this year, though he preferred to think of himself as a "smooth talker."

"So you really are a ballet dancer?" Eve asked.

"Yeah," he said, the smile still plastered to his face, "I told you in Sikowitz's class; I decided to show up my sister at her recital when I was a kid and the ballet stuck."

Eve shrugged. She wasn't into ballet that much. She liked jazz and lyrical a fair amount, but her obsession was split between dancing and drumming. Despite that, this was still her favorite class. She just didn't like when she was partnered up with the tall kids; it only accentuated was she considered to be her short height.

"Welcome back," a French accent floated from the door way. The kids turned and smiled at Madame Makee, the dance teacher at Hollywood arts. "Nice to see you, Eve, Di, Ellie, Matteo, Kiki-" She stopped greeting her students at this point, her pretty face twisting into a pout. She looked back and forth briefly between the first five kids and eventually let the students in on what she was thinking. "Why do I have an acro dancer, ballet dancer, and contemporary dancer all in one class? Have they mixed the categories together?" She sounded confused and displeased. At last, she rolled her eyes and mumbled, "I will talk to the principal about this after class…" She sighed before her eyes regained their usual sparkle. "Okay, why don't you all go into the locker rooms to change into your dance clothes? Oui?"

Kiki picked up her dance bag and followed a group of senior and fellow junior girls into the girls' locker room, while Matteo and one other boy went to the boys' locker room.

She went to her locker from last year and put in the combination that she had had for two years now. She deposited some clothes from her work out bag into it and changed into a black, long sleeve leotard and tights before she put on a pair of shorts over it and slipping on a pair of ballet shoes. She left her charm bracelet and gold necklace on, even though dancing while wearing loose jewelry was discouraged. She never took them off, not even when she showered. It was a good thing that they didn't rust.

Eve, on the other hand, was changing into her typical workout gear as she wondered what Madame Makee would do about the different types of dance classes having been combined. This consisted of her usual purple shoes, black dancing shorts, and a white shirt with her name surrounded by multicolored stars on it.

"Glad to be back?" Eve asked Kiki to make small talk. In return, Kiara nodded enthusiastically, lacing up her shoes.

Eve didn't really know Kiki that well, despite them both being dancers, nor did she know Matteo, since he was a ballet dancer unlike her. She had had one class with Kiki last year, and she though tMatteo could have been in her history of acting class freshman year, but she wasn't sure. Either way, she had never talked to either of them before today, but they seemed like they were already friends with each other.

She walked out and looked around. Kiki had walked over to Matteo, who was now it a sleeveless white workout shirt and basketball shorts in addition to ballet shoes. A clique of senior girls were gossiping towards the corner, the one other boy in the class was chatting up some blond with way too much lipstick, and a few more girls were talking in pairs or standing alone, looking rather out of place.

She decided to make herself known, maybe even make a new friend. "Hi," she greeted a pretty brunette with gray eyes. The girl wore a glaring pink leotard which was somehow fashionable. "My name is Eve."

The brunette extended her hand and answered "I'm Annabelle."

* * *

><p>Trina pouted. She was stuck in silly study hall with a bunch of kids of all grade levels, but all she could think about was Hunter.<p>

"Why would he say that?" She frowned.

"Say what?" Beth asked. "Who's 'he'?"

Trina sighed. "Only the most amazingly hot boy at Hollywood Arts I've ever seen." She pictured him and screeched a little bit in frustration.

"Shh!" The teacher was already wishing he didn't have her in his class. She was going to be way more trouble than she was worth.

"What boy?" Tori asked, confused.

"Hunter Turks!" Trina told her, as if it were obvious.

"Oh," Beth said, remembering Trina coming to talk to Hunter at their lunch table yesterday.

Tori closed her school agenda and pulled out her pink emergency card to start filling out. They got one every year the first week at any school, but they were never really used. Oh well, she needed something to do and her older sister apparently wasn't about to let her start reading the book she bought yesterday.

"If he's so perfect, then what's the problem?" She then smiled and then teased "why the long face?"

"Because!"

"SHH!"

"Sorry," Trina said half sincerely to Mr. Parks. She watched him leave and then whispered to Tori and Beth "it's because he says he has a girlfriend."

_Oh, here we go_, Tori thought sadly. "You know, no offense Trina, but maybe he was just saying that so you wouldn't ask him out."

Trina tossed her head back and snorted in laughter. "What? Tori, Tori, I know you're new here, so you haven't really gotten to see how popular your big sister is, but trust me, no boy would want to do that to me!"

"Right…ok, then, Trina, you're right," the younger Vega sister played along. "Whatever you say."

"Beth! You're friends with Hunter, right?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Well? Does he have a girlfriend?"

Beth twiddled her thumbs. "Well, I don't know him very well. He's really more Jay's friend than mine."

"Whose Jay?" Tori asked.

Beth smiled shyly at her new friend's question. Both Beth and Jay were sort of oblivious to love, and therefore were completely oblivious to the fact that they were both interested in each other. "He's my neighbor." Jay had moved to America a few years ago from Seoul, and had been really at ends about leaving his old best friend behind. She was missing her parents, and they found each other when she was adopted. Their friendship was perfect.

"Awe," Tori cooed at Beth's smile, making her blush. "Do you like him?"

"Well, I…" Beth trailed off.

"Excuse me," Trina snarled, "We were talking about _me_."

"Wow," a girl from the next table butted in, "been back for one day and it's already feeling like old times."

**A/N: Was that fun? Hope it was. Not all will be this long; they'll vary between 2-3 pages on average, always at least 1000 words. I really hope you liked it even if your OC didn't talk much. Like I started talking about at the beginning, every other chapter or so will focus on just two characters so I can introduce and develop their dramas. I hope you'll enjoy the other characters as much enjoy your own, or if you don't have an OC in here. Thank all of you so much for reviewing, hope you review for this chapter too and enjoyed it.**


	7. Wouldn't It Be Loverly

**A/N: I got particularly enjoyable reviews last chapter, so thanks! I'm glad you guys seem to like this. Also, I'm going away this weekend, so I won't be able to write probably at all on Saturday through most of Sunday, maybe not until Monday. Sorry about that. I'll try to get another chapter ready to post tomorrow. Anyways, yes this chapter focuses on just two characters, which I'll do every other chapter, so eventually it'll even out again. So, without further adieu…**

"Jared!" Cara Halley called out to her twin brother, turning to say a final goodbye to her friends. She had the same olive skin and brown eyes as her brother, with chestnut hair that looked shining out here in the sunlight.

"Come on, Cara. I want to have enough time to drum for a while before Mom gets home."

"Oh," she said flatly. "Well, we'd better hurry up then." She opened the passenger door to their used black Honda and threw her schoolbag inside before hopping into her seat.

Jared shoved his stuff into the backseat and slammed the car door behind him. He cracked his fingers before he realized that he had left the car keys in his bag. "Hold on, Cara." He unbuckled his seat to fish through his bag, but to no avail. "Can't find my keys," he muttered.

"You mean these?" Cara smiled, dangling their shared keys in front of his face. "I had them from driving here this morning, remember?"

"Oh, yeah…"

"God, you're an airhead."

Jared smiled, not feeling insulted at all.

"So, how'd it go today?" Cara asked.

Jared pulled out of the school parking lot and went into a mass rant about his first day. "I had Sikowitz first, and he made us all introduced ourselves to the class." He paused, remembering how Jade had freaked him out during his introduction.

"Yeah," Cara mused, "we had to do those, too."

"I already knew most the kids, there's barely anybody in my class. It rocks. Then some kids did improv instead of Sikowitz reading the school rules, and there was some new girl in it named Tori. After that, we played tons of improv games; you know, alphabet improv, party quirks, and some random game where we were all frogs. Then-" Cara sighed, realizing that as usual, her brother was going to give her a full run through of every detail. They were close, but he talked so much. It bugged her a little bit sometimes, but she was used to it. "I had music with Anthony. Dude, I love that class so much. I even got to play on a brand new drum kit, never used before. Me and Andre jammed together. I had chemistry after that."

"Oh, your favorite," Cara laughed. She knew her brother like the back of her hand, and got ready to tune out as he raved about chemistry. She was completely lost in the music blasting from the radio until suddenly, she realized her brother had apparently stopped talking and was waiting for her to talk about her day.

"You know, some teachers were cool, some were lame. Science was boring-no offense, math was fun, drama was great. I like the same classes I always have."

He nodded at her much briefer summary and soon enough, they had arrived home.

Both twins hurried out of the car to enjoy their empty home. Jared immediately got to drumming while Cara went upstairs to watch some television and email her friends in her room. Jared was halfway through "Run To The Hills" when he heard the door bang open. He took a deep, annoyed breath as he waited for the expected.

"Hi, Jared," His mother, Georgina, greeted her only son. She was very young for a mother of teenagers. This was because she had been only sixteen; the same age her kids were now, when she had gotten pregnant with them. It had been especially hard since she had had twins. Cara and Jared in fact never knew their father, and she was glad for that whenever she considered what type of a father he would have made. Her children hadn't exactly had any father figures at all, though. She did regret that.

Georgina had the huge flaw of having terrible taste in men. Somehow, she seemed completely oblivious to how all of her boyfriends turned into scumbags around her kids whenever she wasn't around.

Jared _hated_ that. So many times he had come across one of his mom's idiot boyfriends harassing or hitting on his sister. Even before their mom started dating again after she had them, he had been super protective of Cara. He wished he could do something to stop guys from bugging her, but he never seemed to get through to them. You can't change a sleazebag like that.

Sometimes the guys tried to push him around too, but his mom just got mad when he tried to say something about it, like she was freaking blind or something. Why wouldn't she believe her own kids on something like that? She was still so young (she'd be turning 33 in a few weeks), but that didn't seem like a good enough excuse to either of her kids. Nothing did.

"Hey, Jar." Jared winced as Georgina's current boyfriend, Tyler, walked through the door. He was too old for Georgina, Jared thought. "Where's your sister?"

Jared looked desperately at his mom. He was glad that no guy had ever gone any further than flirting with Cara, and he intended to keep it that way. "Upstairs, I think, but don't bug her, she's trying to learn a new monologue." That could have been true, after all. Maybe she was, he didn't know.

Georgina shrugged at Jared's answer and took Tyler's hand, leading him into the kitchen to blather away mindlessly, staying continually ignorant to her kid's despair.

* * *

><p>Eve stuck her home key into the knob and jiggled it, pulling the front door open. She wordlessly walked into her big house, depositing her backpack onto it's usual place of residence; an uncomfortable chair in the foyer. She waltzed into the kitchen to get a snack pack pudding cup and a spoon, and sat down at the marble counter to eat it while she thought about how to kill time. Video games sounded pretty appealing, but as usual, she had tons of energy, so maybe she'd practice some dance moves.<p>

It was sort of silly how she was eating pudding when her mom was a cook at a very successful restaurant downtown, but whatever. By the time her mom brought home any leftovers, that is _if_ she brought home anything, it would be about dinner time. Her mom was rarely home, and generally left her to her own business, especially the past few years.

Her dad wasn't a super parent either. William Peragrym was also really successful, but unlike her mom, he was a lawyer. She looked more like him; she shared his wild blonde hair and hazel eyes, but got her height and freckles from her mother. Her dad was never home, gone even more than Barbara, her mom. Eve was usually in bed by the time he left the office, so it was like she only saw him on the weekends.

She had been petty distantly from both of them since about middle school, but it hadn't always been like this.

When Eve was little, she was the little girl of classic upper class parents; they were a handsome, well off, but most importantly; happy family. She was their little angel and both Barbara and Will adored her. They had been supportive of her when she started dance lessons in third grade. They came to every recital, the proud, cheering parents always there in the first row. Basically, they doted on her completely.

Then, when she was still in elementary school, Eve realized she was different. She had these confusing feelings. While all the other girls were starting to get crushes on boys, she developed a crush on a girl in her class named Bridget. Of course, she never told Bridget this. Most of the girls never revealed their feelings to their crushes, but Eve knew that Bridget had a crush on some tall boy with red hair. She was confused. Why didn't any of the other girls feel like she did? Eve knew she wasn't the only girl like this.

Sure, Eve had come to terms with being lesbian, but she didn't reveal it to her parents right away. She felt sort of alone, not having her mom to talk to, so some time later she came out to her parents hoping for their acceptance. Unfortunately, that's not what she got.

She knew she could never, _ever_ forget how the conversation with her parents went. She kept trying to tell them but chickening out until finally, she just blurted it out before she even had time to think. Will and Barb looked at her, Will's eyes wide, Barbara's mouth gaping. Her mom even suggested it might just be a phase, like she was trying to brush it off. Denial, Eve figured. She told them that she was sure, and fine with it, that she hoped they would be too.

Her parent's weren't mad. No tears were shed, but instead a riff grew between them. She still loved them both, and wanted them to accept her, but after all this time they still hadn't. Eve was optimistic about everything except them changing their minds. She had given up on that back in eighth grade. Yeah, they still said they loved her, but they only acknowledged her when they had important company over. It sucked.

But she had dance. She was fine and overall very happy. On weekends, she liked to go to yard sales and collect her findings, she had a nice assortment of cool and expensive video games, and she went to an awesome school.

She had tons of friends already this year. She had Beck, Dylan, Jade, and Cat. She was glad that she had so many classes with Cat. That girl in her dance class that she had talked to earlier, Annabelle, seemed like she might become another friend of Eve's.

Annabelle had said that she was senior at Hollywood arts who's major focus was on modeling. She also talked about her never ending love for the color pink, fashion, and her boyfriend Hunter Turks. Turns out she also liked economy and business class, surfing, shopping, and just hanging out. She was a funny kid too, Eve didn't get why people said she was spoiled. The nice part was that Annabelle said her parents were never home either. She had said that maybe they could even hang out one day.

It was nice talking and all, but she also really liked when they actually got down to dancing. She had been working hard all summer to perfect her lock step and a few other simple moves to make sure she didn't get rusty over the break.

She liked Sikowitz's class pretty well too, and English was fun. She loved summer, but she had missed her school. She even missed her personalized locker, which was painted dark blue with Earth in the bottom left corner and music note instead of stars.

Of course, her parents weren't home to ask her about her day, but oh well. Today rocked. She was already formulating possible routines for the Big Showcase in her head. Plus, Sikowitz said he already had some big project in mind for them…she hoped that was a good thing.

**A/N: So, that was Jared and Eve, leaving Dylan, Beth, Matteo, and Kiara. Next chapter will be back in Sikowitz's room for the reveal of the project, and either the next one or the one after will focus on two again. Oh yeah, did you notice how I oh so subtly slipped in Annabelle's boyfriend? Yes, start predicting the Trina drama. **

**I hope you enjoyed this even if you didn't have a character in it, and please review! **


	8. Matchmaker, Matchmaker

**A/N: Hi! Thanks everybody for reviewing (even though FF glitched and took forever to message me about it, after I had already looked them up myself) Here's the project. And yes, I did pair the kids up randomly. I pulled names out of a tin. I think next chapter will focus on just two characters again. I'm not sure if I'll do this more than once for each character, you know, give them a whole half of a chapter like that, but I will focus on them for periods at a time all throughout to develop their drama and stories. KK, read on :) Oh, and sorry for the wait, I was out of town this weekend.  
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Sikowitz's first period students were all talking away about everything from surfing to ventriloquism. That is, they were talking until their oh so professional teacher crawled through the window as usual.

"Welcome to day two, my little coconuts." He cleared his throat and stood at the front of the room. "As I told you yesterday, we will be embarking on a week long project to challenge you and prepare you for the horrors of professional acting." A few kids looked at him questionably for this, but he merely shrugged it off and took a sip of refreshing coconut milk. "And so, before I reveal my master plot, I am going to partner you up."

He smiled and held up a Doctor Seuss style red and white hat. "In this hat, I have included all of your names. I'll pull two out, and whoever you get will be yours until the school bell do you part." He walked over to a radio in the corner and played the theme song to _Survivor_.

"And now," he said theatrically, "The pairing of the names!"

Tori wondered if the man was going to interview them in reality show style as an improvisation game.

Sikowitz stuffed his hand into the hat and spread the names around, grabbed the hat around the middle so no names would escape, and shook it vigorously.

"The name is…" he pulled out a folded up bit of paper at random and read "Robbie!"

"Alright!" Robbie exclaimed, smiling brightly.

Rex snickered, "you're just excited because this is the first time you've ever been picked first for anything. Ha!"

"Rex," Robbie whined. The kids less familiar with Robbie looked at him strangely. Was he seriously insulted by a puppet...one that he controlled?

"Moving on…Robbie's partner shall be…" Sikowitz repeated his earlier motion and pulled out another name; "Cat!"

Robbie smiled and Cat cheered "yay, we're in first place!"

Jade sneered at the red head. "Cat, it isn't a competition."

Sikowitz pointed at Jade. "Yet." Beck and Dylan looked at him suspiciously. Sikowitz quickly went back to shaking the hat before they could ask anymore questions. "Next pair; Andre and Beth!"

"Cool," Andre said, turning around to greet his new partner.

"Dylan," Sikowitz read, "your partner will be Kiki!" Kiki and Dylan smiled at each other, Kiki trying to do process of elimination in her head the dream up who else might get paired together.

Sikowitz asked Cat to pull out the next two names, after reminding her to close her eyes. "Ooh, exciting!" She squealed. "Okay, okay. My two picks are Beck and Jade! Oh my gosh, that's so lucky!" She giggled at the couple. Jade smiled slyly, nudging Beck in the ribs. He smiled back at her, happy that he'd get to work with Jade. Besides, if he got partnered with any other girl, Jade would kill him.

"That leaves four names," Sikowitz said. "And our second to last group will be comprised of Eve and Matteo!" He smiled broadly, announcing "that means our last couple will be Jared and Tori. Any questions?"

The kids looked at each other, the same question on each of their minds.

"Um, Sikowitz-" Andre spoke up, "you never told us what the project is."

"Good Ghandi, how could I forget?" He laughed. "I'm sure you have all heard the golden rule of acting; never work with animals or children." This was met with various reactions. Beck laughed, amused, Jade and groaned, Tori and Matteo looked around curiously, Cat clapped enthusiastically, Beth smiled, and Jared sighed. Dylan and Kiki, sitting right next to each other already, gave each other curious looks. Eve hoped that Sikowitz wasn't thinking what she thought he was thinking.

"Oh, god," Jade complained, "you're not making us work with kids, are you?"

Sikowitz's face was unwavering. "Actually, Jade, I am. And animals. You will each be receiving both an animal and a child from the preschool next door to work with."

Jade groaned in repulsion again.

"You must train both of them and develop a scene. You will have four classes to work on it starting today. You will be working with the kids today, the animals next class, write the scene the third day, and get to work with the two of them together for the other class." He took another sip of coconut milk. "You'll be graded on how well you work as a team, how well you get your animal and kid to work together, and the quality of your scene."

"If we don't know our type of animal," Beth asked, "then how can we develop a scene yet?"

"A good question," said the crazy haired teacher. "Get to know your charge. Start making ideas based off of their interests. All of the children selected are interested in performing arts of some matter. They're waiting outside for you, so go ahead and pick one out."

The twelve kids filed out of the room to collect their new students. Six little kids waited in the hallway with Lane, who whose head was spinning trying to keep up with them. Lane sighed at the sight of the older kids and pointed each little monster to one of the pairs.

"So," Jade said, "these kids' parents are actually letting complete strangers handle them for two days?"

Lane nodded. "Sikowitz has assured me that this won't end up like the time I let Trina watch my friends' kids. Oh, and the kids' parents get to watch the final scenes." Everyone frowned or whined now, except for the few who were excited, like Cat. They didn't sign up to put on a show. Well, not this type anyways.

"So," Jade said to her kid, a black haired boy who reminded her of her little brother, "here are the ground rules; no spitting, touching, laughing, whining, or playing. Got that?" The boy nodded, unshaken, while Beck reprimanded his girlfriend for being do brash.

The five other groups were already trying to think of scenes that could involve a kid and animal without being too unoriginal.

Robbie and Cat were working with a kindergartner named Maggie. "Are you Andy Samberg?" She asked Robbie curiously.

Robbie frowned. "Why does everybody say that?"

* * *

><p>"Hunter, I cannot believe you!" Trina fumed as she flung herself into the seat next to him as he finished packing up his books from first period.<p>

Confused, Hunter scrunched up his eyes and stared blankly at her. "What?"

"You lied to me!" The older Vega girl looked at him in shock. First of all, how did he not know what she was talking about, and secondly, why would he lie to her? Ugh, men.

Hunter slumped his arm over the back of his chair and stared at her, determined. "I've barely ever talked to you."

Trina flared her nostrils in anger and retorted, "I was talking to Jay Lee a few minutes ago, and _guess_ what he told me?"

Hunter held up his hands in surrender. He couldn't think of anything that Trina might have heard about him.

"You have a _girlfriend_!" She screeched.

Hunter, embarrassed by the eyes now looking at them, motioned for Trina to keep her voice down. "I already told you I had a girlfriend!"

Trina rolled her eyes, hands on hips. "Yeah, but I thought you were playing hard to get!" She's seen the move a million times; the boy pretends to be on the phone with a girlfriend, but it just makes the girl want them more. "You're diabolical."

Hunter sighed in annoyance. Guys didn't play hard to get, that was a girl thing. "I do have a girlfriend. A real one."

"Well, I know that now!"

"Well…yeah. I have a girlfriend." Clearly, he wasn't sure what else there was to be said. He was just waiting for that cliché moment when the girlfriend conveniently shows up while the boyfriend is talking to someone else to mark her territory. "Uh, I should be going to environmental science now. Don't want to be late."

"Fine. Goodbye Hunter."

"Yeah," he said shortly, opening the classroom door, eager to scurry away to hang out with his friends.

"What?" Trina asked, sounding mad and a bit hurt.

"I mean bye!" He threw back at her, elongating his steps to escape this conversation.

Meanwhile, Hunter's girlfriend Annabelle Athena was talking to her friend in modeling class.

"Annabelle, I hate to tell you this…" her friend started as the practiced poses in the mirror.

"What?" Annabelle asked, looking concerned. Her teacher reminded her not to lose her smile. Smiles were big in modeling.

"Well," the second girl said hesitantly, "you know Trina Vega?"

"Trina…no, what does she do? Act? Sing? Dance? Play music-"

Jenny, her friend, butt in. "None of the above. I'm not sure how she got in. You know, she has brown hair, an upturned nose, wears expensive stuff? Uh," Jenny grasped for something else to describe her, "Oh! She played Megan in David's play last year?"

Annabelle smiled in remembrance. "Oh, her! Yeah, what about her?"

"Alex told me that she's being hitting on Hunter, like, she thought he made you up to make her go away."

"Oh really?" Annabelle replied. Not that she felt threatened, nor did she want to punish Trina for making an honest mistake, but...this meant war.

**A/N: I'm cutting it off there. I managed to get it to three pages as usual (hooray!) but I had trouble with the timing of this chapter; you know, wanting to show segments of the team working, but not wanting to have a super long chapter about every moment of every single group working together? Sorry this focused a lot on the characters from the show, I will show bits from the project and probably write out the final scenes that each group turns out. I'll also have conversations between the two people on each team; which is why the working with animals part will be easier; no third person in the way. You will see some of that though. Also, I want to work in showcase stuff once this is done, so probably in two chapters, I'll ask for showcase ideas, and if not, I'll pick their scene/monologue/song whatever.**

**PS; Sorry, I'm excited about this, just have to say-if any of you have ever seen Crimes of the Heart, would Jade not make a great Meg? Cat would be a really good Babe, and Tori could be Lenny :P Oh, I have the perfect showcase piece for Robbie and Cat already./ Well…that's all! Hop you liked it, and bye!**


	9. Comfort And Joy

**A/N: HI, everyone! Sorry it's been a few days. I have an audition for my school musical on Tuesday. I'm nervous. It seems like I can't stop thinking about it. Wish me luck? Anyways, this is all about Beth and Dylan. Next chapter will have them with animals, maybe them working on scenes more. After that, I think I want to have the Big Showcase before the next 2-character chapter. Deal? Does that work? Anyways, thanks for reading, and I'll try to update soon, probably after Tuesday. Anyways, I think this chapter is a good one, I hope you like it.  
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* * *

><p>"So," Jay said, walking casually down the street next to Beth. It was a gorgeous day in California, so Beth asked him to get some fresh air with her.<p>

"Yes?" She asked, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

Jay kicked a rock further down the street, hands shoved in pockets. "You're doing a project with Andre Harris?" Beth didn't notice the hint of jealousy in his voice. Well actually, Jay didn't even notice it himself.

Beth nodded. "We have to build a scene involving a little kid and an animal."

Jay smiled shyly. "What kind of parent would leave Sikowitz and a bunch of kids in charge of their children?"

Beth shoved him playfully. "Jay," she giggled, "they're fine. Actually, it was sort of fun. We're working with a little boy named Tom. He's really cute and he listens well enough and is pretty enthusiastic about being in a scene." Jay rolled his eyes jokingly at her description. He wasn't big about kids, but he knew Beth loved them. She had a natural talent for working with little kids, as her little sister made evident whenever she was around.

"Though wish we knew what animal we had to work with," The girl continued, brushing her blue and purple highlights with her fingers. "If we did, we could work more on the scene."

"Any ideas?"

Beth tilted her head up in thought. She and Andre had started to think of ideas, but nothing really stuck out yet. It was sort of hard not to go cliché on this one, but there had to be some unheard of scenario using an animal and child. "Well, we have no concrete ideas as of now, but I'm sure we'll think of something."

Jay smiled. "I'm sure you will." She smiled back. Their eyes lingered on each other, smiles unfading. If only the two of them would wise up and see what the other saw in them. They were so clueless at romance.

As they walked silently for a few more minutes, the duo found themselves on a familiar block. This was the place where Beth had lived as an orphan before she was adopted. Jay was one of the few people who knew about her past, and this wasn't the first time he'd heard that this was "her" street.

"Jay, look," Beth half-smiled. "It's Abbey."

Beth was still in touch with a good amount of kids who lived, or used to live, on the streets like she did, and Abbey was one of them.

"Abbey, hi!" Beth greeted, running up to the brown haired girl.

Abbey squealed with excitement and hugged her. "It's been so long!"

"Oh, I know, I missed you so much!" They pulled out of the hug and looked at each other. Abbey's hair was crazy and tangled, her hand-me-down men's shirt too large, her pant legs too short. A lot of the kids Beth had lived with those early years had gotten adopted, sent to an orphanage, or went back to live with parents or relatives, but not Abbey. Abbey was one of the few whose life never changed, but somehow she had managed. "How's Sam?" Samuel was another kid like Abbey, never taken in. The only other one Beth knew of was an older girl named Kylie. Kylie was about college aged, but last Beth heard Kylie was living with her boyfriend.

Abbey sighed. "He's good. Well, maybe not good, but the same. Oh, big news! I got a job! A second one, and it pays better than the first."

Jay watched as the two girls chattered on, talking about Abbey's job at a salon and her new second job as a waitress during nights at a popular restaurant. He wasn't sure why, but his mind drifted back to his first friend, one he had had to leave behind when his family immigrated to America. He wished they were still in touch like Beth was with her old friends, but Korea is an incomparably longer distance away.

"And Jay. How's it going?" Abbey was still smiling, glad to see old pals.

"Uh, it's alright," Jay said awkwardly. Beth rolled her eyes and told Abbey about how Jay was a senior at HA too, and how they were both having a great year so far. From there, somehow plans changed from going on a walk to the three of them, plus Sam, getting lunch.

"Have you talked to your family lately?" Sam asked Beth once they gave their orders. "You know, your biological side…"

"Yeah, I know." Beth looked at Sam, a short boy with red hair. "I talked to them on the first day of school. I thought they might like to hear how it's going." She had talked to them for nearly two hours after school and ended up exhausted that night. Her uncle was glad to hear that she liked her school, and her grandparents were cordial and sweet. However, she couldn't help but think that secretly, they were saying to themselves "she'd like the schools around here better. She really should come live with us."

Beth really wanted to make them happy, but she felt so awkward, thinking that they would never give up on her leaving her adoptive family to go live with them. After all, she had only bumped into her uncle a month ago, and there was still so much to resolve.

"I really like it at Hollywood Arts," she told Sam and Abbey. "Speaking of which, we're doing this project…I think you two just gave me a perfect idea for it."

* * *

><p>"Mom, I'm home!" Dylan announced in a singsong voice.<p>

Ever since her brother Jake went to college, it had been just her and her mother at home. Her mom was a nurse, and adamant that Dylan become a doctor when she grew up. "Being a doctor is such a dependable career," her mom would say, "especially compared to being a musician. People will always get sick, and people will always need doctors to treat them."

"Mom?" Dylan walked the length of their robin blue colored hallway until she came to her mother's large bedroom. "Are you okay?"

"Dylan, I have a headache," Dylan's mom mumbled. "Please try to be quiet."

Dylan frowned. Her mom had been pretty sick lately, throwing up, complaining of blurry vision and headaches. Normally, Dylan's mom always guessed that she had something serious when sick. She was a nurse, yes, but she was also a bit of a hypochondriac. Or maybe she was just dramatic.

"Alright, then. I just wanted to say that my friend is coming over to work on a project."

"Fine," her mom snapped with an uncharacteristically angry edge to her voice. "Just keep the volume down, alright?"

"Okay." Dylan frowned and quietly closed the door behind her. Still equally as quiet, she padded up the stairs to the main second floor room where they kept their TV, video games, and foosball table. She made sure to take her phone with her so she could tell if Kiara called.

She tried to think of scene ideas, but gave up after five minutes to play video games. She found that she kept losing because she couldn't concentrate. Before she realized it, she had started crying.

She picked up her phone and dialed Jake's phone number, hoping he wasn't in class or with a friend. The phone rang uselessly about four times before a voice finally answered.

"Hey. Dylan?" Just hearing her brother's voice somehow calmed her down.

"Yeah." She choked on her own words, her vocabulary failing to continue. She wasn't really sure why she started crying, it wasn't like she was super upset or anything.

"Are you crying?"

"I guess," she said, laughing sadly. "It's just…" She wished her brother was here with her instead of hours way. "I'm worried about Mom."

Jake sighed. "Is she OK?"

Dylan shook her head even though she knew he couldn't see her. "I don't know. She's been sick for a while, and acting weird, like she's mad at me a lot. I guess it's because she feels like crap, but I want her to get over whatever she has. I'm scared, I guess."

There was a long pause. Finally, Jake asked "has she seen a doctor or anything?"

"I'm not sure, I don't think so. She's just been staying home from work. I don't even know why I called you, Jake. It's probably just the flu, and it's not like you can do anything."

"Well, call me whenever. That's what brothers are for." Dylan smiled. Her brother was such a good guy. She really looked up to him.

"Thanks, Jake. Love you."

"Thanks," he said. She laughed. This had been his response to "I love you" from anyone but his girlfriend for years now.

"Bye."

"Bye," he laughed back, hanging up.

She felt better now. Talking seriously did help, as cheesy as it sounded. Now all she had left to do today was talk about her scene for Sikowitz's class with Kiki. She hoped Kiki wanted to do something cheerful, too. Dylan had had enough sadness already.

She heard a knock on the door and hurried downstairs to answer it before it bugged her mom.

"Hi, Kiki. We can work upstairs, my mom is sick, so it's better to stay out of her way."

Kiki nodded understandingly. "Tell her I said get well soon."

Dylan smiled. "Will do. Come on, I'll show you my room!"

The two started for the stairs, but Dylan slowed as she passed her mother's room. She could hear a noise, and worriedly threw open the door, only to find her mom on the bed, shaking.

She was having a seizure.

"Kiki, call 911!" Dylan said frantically, running to her mother's side.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yay, dramatic! I had fun writing this one. Don't worry, the new loose ends will be elaborated later. If you have any specific ideas for your OC's scene, feel free to tell me. I have ideas for some but not here's how the next few chapters will work; next chapter will be them with the animals, some Trina, some showcase talk maybe, and some more building on dramas. I don't know if their scenes will be that chapter or the one after, but anyways, after that will be the Big Showcase. Then will be Matteo and Kiara, unless I put them each as half a chapter for 2 separate at-school chapters. It's because of timing, I want Matteo's to be after the Big Showcase. So, start thinking of what you want them to do in the showcase as well. I'll choose something if you don't in the next two or three chapters.  
><strong>

**Anyways, please review, and hopefully I'll update soon! Thanks guys ****:)**


	10. Ya Got Trouble

**A/N: Hi peeps. Sorry I took forever to write this. It's been a crazy-making couple of days. I've also been reading a lot of Scott Westerfeld books, implanting the desire to talk like the characters in his books. And rant about his books. But I won't. I'll let you read my own story, which I guess I should make sound more exciting than real books. Sorry to end the project so soon, but I want to get this and at least part of the showcase over with because I'm quite excited for the developing drama after that. But anyways, I've had school stuff, had to make a Peep Diorama for a contest, had singing lessons, went to a movie, it's been busy. So sorry for that. Man, what a long author's note. And thus, onward, my cohorts! **

"This is going nowhere."

Tori sighed and sat next to Jared. They had one more class period to work on their scene before it would have to go on. "So, we still have _zero_ ideas for a scene?"

Jared nodded. "Yep."

Their second class period to work on their scenes had been…interesting for everyone.

* * *

><p>"Sit." Matteo commanded the furry Samoyed dog. It wagged its tail and took steps closer to him.<p>

"No," Matteo said, pointing to the ground, "go sit. Sit."

Eve giggle from her spot on the bench at her scene partner's failure. He turned around and glared at her with an impatient expression. "You try, then."

Eve stood and brushed off her jeans, approaching the fluffy white beast. "Down, boy." At her command, the dog turned its ears and closed its jaw. "Sit. Down." There was a short pause before the dog took a seat on the grass. "There," she said, grinning at the wavy haired boy, "it's easy."

Matteo scoffed quietly, arms crossed. His family had gotten a basset hound puppy a few weeks ago named Gidget which he had instantly and secretly declared his. He was now regretting that decision. If he couldn't make a fully trained show dog sit, what hope was there for training a dog on his own? "So dogs don't listen to me," he huffed at Eve.

"Apparently not." She patted the dog's long coat. "So, we know our scene?"

"I guess. Not the best idea, maybe cheesy, but it's good enough."

"It is good."

"Enough."

Eve rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

* * *

><p>"You're kidding me. A fox?" Andre asked once Beth told him about her newly rescued fox kit.<p>

"Yes. He's really cute. My little sister has been trying to train him." All of the animals that Sikowitz had borrowed from an old college friend turned animal trainer had most of the kids, especially the girls, going on about their own pets.

Andre nodded to show he was listening. "Anyways, we've got this thing under control, right?" Beth nodded in response to his question. They were one of the few groups who had a plan.

"Jade and Beck seem to know what they want to do."

Andre smirked, nodding his head. "Yeah. Too bad they don't want to do the same thing."

They looked across the school grounds to where Jade and Beck where arguing, Jade making sweeping gestures with her arms, Beck with his arms crossed.

"Jade, we cannot do a scene with the kid eating the dog! His parents are going to watch it!"

Jade growled. "He's not eating the stupid dog, Beck, he's just crying and apologizing to the dog for being _about _to eat him! We'll have him all alone and stranded somewhere where he has to, maybe even squeeze a tear or two out of him."

Beck sighed and looked up at the sky. "Why?"

"Well at least we won't have some pansy scene that Hollywood's already done eight million times!"

Beck slowly looked at her. "You know, you have a point…"

Just as slowly as Beck's eyes has slid back down to peer at Jade, a smile slowly inched its way across Jade's face. "I knew you'd get it eventually."

* * *

><p>Kiki clasped her hands behind her back. "So I guess I'm in your group now," she said to Cat and Robbie, awkwardly reiterating what Sikowitz said.<p>

"Yay!" Cat gave her a welcoming smile. Robbie nudged her gently, reminding her that this was not a "yay" moment, as Kiki was only in their group now because Dylan had mysteriously been marked absent and there wouldn't be enough time for them to make up the work. Sikowitz had decided to excuse her from the project, giving her a short monologue or something as makeup.

Kiki was the only one who knew why Dylan was out, but she felt it wasn't her place to tell. Besides, she didn't have many facts. She just figured that Dylan was at the hospital with her mom.

"Is there a script yet?"

Cat bounced up and down on her heels, begging Robbie to let her tell. Given the OK, she took a breath, getting ready to explain. "OK, so our scene is about bullying. Get it? Cause the kid is small, and her puppy is small. So our girl will carry the puppy onstage like it was just being growled at by big mean dogs, and she'll tell it that the big guys are mean to her too. Isn't it good? Robbie thought of it."

Kiki glanced at Robbie, not surprised that he had thought of something like that.

"I'll miss the doggie when this project is over." Cat frowned for a second.

"Yeah," Kiki replied, "but when this is over, we have the showcase!"

* * *

><p>"And there she is." Annabelle sighed. Trina was heading towards Hunter's desk.<p>

Trina glided smoothly over and started twirling her hair. "Oh hey, Hunter."

Hunter paused. "Hi." He cleared his throat, eyes averted. He rolled his head towards the direction of his girlfriend. "Uh, Trina, you know Annabelle?"

"Who?" Trina's smile faltered at Hunter's flirt-less reply.

Hunter pulled on his collar, clearing his throat. "You know, my, uh, girlfriend."

Trina rolled her eyes as if he was being coy or silly. "Hunter." She moved a bit closer to him. "We've been over this."

"Yeah," he agreed with a short laugh.

"And I get it." Trina flashed him her pearly whites, fresh from a new round of white strips. All of her fancy clothes, her perfect smile, her wise (know it all) nature…it seemed so _put on_. Well, everyone thought Trina tried too hard, but at that moment it didn't seem like it was for attention or acceptance or anything. Trina Vega was a flashy person. Dramatic. She was sure of who she was, and she just happened to be an exuberant person.

Hunter looked at her. "Really?" She had better not insist he was paying hard to get again.

"Of course, silly."

"Oh," he sighed. "Then, could you, uh…you seem to…stop flirting…" He stumbled for the right words.

Trina Vega froze. "What?"

"Well, it's just that you keep, like, dropping hints…really unsubtle ones…and I'm dating Annabelle." He cleared his throat again, an action that was appearing to be a nervous tick of his. "So could you not do that?" _There are other guys_, he wanted to tell her. Why did she have to be so persistent after _him_?

"Oh…um, yeah. Yeah, Hunter. Sorry I…" The corners of the girl's mouth flickered involuntarily down. Why was she so surprised? He had told her countless times that he was taken. It was like it seriously must have went in one ear and out the other.

Hunter swallowed. "I'm not trying to be a jerk," he insisted.

Trina sniffled silently, no tears flowing. Just rejection welling up inside. "No. No, you aren't. Sorry to…bother you." Why do all of her crushes have to be taken?

Annabelle watched on from her seat. Even though Trina had a crush on her boyfriend, she knew Hunter didn't feel anything towards her, so it wasn't like she was a threat. Still, she couldn't help but be a bit peeved. And yet, as she watched Trina look at the floor, she couldn't help but feel sort of bad for her.

* * *

><p>Jared and Tori both looked at the floor. Time was ticking. They had each spent their previous classes wracking their brains for a scene, and still none came. Sure enough, after many combined hours of math, chemistry, English class, gym, electives, and some very ponderous lunch time, Sikowitz's first block class came rolling around again.<p>

They tried ignoring the problem by talking about the upcoming showcase, but the arrival of their "actors" soon told them to wake up and smell the imminent failure.

"Jared," Tori said, her voice edged with worry, "we're doomed."

**A/N: Yeah, dramatic. I suppose. You know what's weird? I saw The Artist today and my friend and I were the only two people in the theater. We narrated it like we were in Mystery Science Theater 3000. Anyways, I apologize for lack of updating. I will tell you right now, I may not get to update much these next two weeks because I have a play due for drama class (that I've had all quarter to work on, but I can't get a decent idea that I'm fully happy with). I'll try to update again soonish though. Also, sorry if this was short, I just wanted to show that I was still alive. I won't be including the scripts or full scripts for all of the scenes, but I'll include bits and a summary of each. Then, onto the showcase! And then Kiara and Matteo's drama, and a revisit of Dylan's situation. Thanks for reading, hope you didn't mind my lateness.**


	11. My Strongest Suit

**A/N: Hello, people! Only one review last chapter? Very sad-making. Anyways, The next few chapters may be sort of weird. Well, for me, trying to untangle the order to write in, not you. Kiara and Matteo still need their own half-chapters…They might come next, or as I've said before, they might not come together. I'm not like saving up Matteo's because he's mine and I'm all "best for last," I swear. It's all timing. I'm excited to make it happen, but also sort of want the showcase to happen first. Decisions, decisions. **

**Um, this chapter may be rated T, or I guess M if you're a littlun because of mentions of eating a dog in Jade's script. But it's only mentioned and it's in a fake play, so it's really not that bad. T I suppose. So there.**

"Hello, parents. We thank you for lending us your spawn to use in these scene, which our students designed in only three class periods. They've all worked as much as they could given the time frame, so we hope you enjoy them." Sikowitz smiled and bowed slightly, about to leave the stage. On second thought, he edged back towards the microphone. "And no, we will not give out refunds due to subject matter." He quickly eyed Jade West and scurried back into the wings to watch from backstage.

Cat, Robbie, and Kiki walked onstage, smiles forcefully plastered to the nervous faces of the latter two. "Hi!" Cat smiled, grabbing the microphone in one hand and looking out at the silhouettes of parents (and one dog trainer). "My name is Cat." She tilted the mike to Robbie.

"Hello, my name is Robbie Shapiro, thank you for coming."

Robbie passed the mike off to Kiki, who clasped it in both pale hands, adding, "and my name is Kiki. Our scene, written by Robbie, is about bullying."

She passed the mike back to Cat Valentine, who finished, "and we'd like to thank our actor Maggie for being so awesome, and our puppy Brutus for being so cuddly, despite the tough guy name." The audience giggled a bit, leaving the trio time to exit offstage, microphone and stand in tow.

Robbie smiled weakly as Sinjin flicked on the audio track for dogs growling. Maggie, the five year old girl they had to work with, hurried onstage a moment later carrying a Papillion dog.

"Stop it!" Maggie tossed back at the imaginary growling dogs as she hurried Brutus center stage. She sat down in the middle of the stage and stroked the dog's fluffy head, conjuring images of Dorothy and Toto in Kiki's mind.

In the end, Kiki had been able to assist Robbie and Cat after all by directing Maggie and polishing the scene overall. Dylan still hadn't shown up, though…

"It's ok," Maggie cooed lovingly to Brutus, "the big kids are mean to me, too. Just because we're little, they think they can growl at us." Cat smiled at Maggie's cuteness. She definitely had potential. Maybe she'd go to Hollywood Arts one day if she kept working at it.

"Next time any of those big mean doggies bug you, you bark for me. I'll be there for you when you bark."

* * *

><p>After Maggie left the stage to a very good round of applause from the audience, Andre and Beth took center stage.<p>

"Hey, everybody." Andre smiled charismatically. "My name is Andre Harris and this is Beth Park. We hope you all like our scene, _Loyalty_, written by Beth, directed by myself, and acted by the awesome Scruffy and the wicked Tom Collins."

Tom, like Maggie, was five. He gave Andre and Beth a thumbs up from offstage, waiting for Sinjin to black out the lights before he laid down somewhere towards the center. The lights slowly lit up the stage, almost like a man-produced sunrise.

Tom yawned and rubbed his eyes, running over the next steps of the short scene in his head. Next, he sat up and stretched, adding to the "just waking up" routine. As he finished stretching, a scruffy looking dog none other than Scruffy himself approached him, crawling low to the floor.

"Hey," he said. "Hey there boy. You live here?" The dog sat next to him. "I live here, I guess. If I live anywhere, I live here. D'you got a home, boy? Cause…you could live with me. You know, if you wanted to."

Beth was gleaming offstage. She had written this scene loosely based off of her experiences growing up before she was adopted. Sure, on the surface it was a bit Annie-esque, but it was a lot more complete in and of itself, with no intruding police officers. Just a kid finding comfort in a friend, despite it coming in an animal form. Her mom and little sister were in the audience, and she was glad. She was proud of her work and happy they could see it.

Andre has dashed back to the catwalk to play music that he had written especially for the scene. Both of them were just really satisfied with it. Plus, it _was_ pretty fun watching something they wrote in front of a real, living audience, even if it was only a class assignment.

* * *

><p>Matteo and Eve went third.<p>

Eve was starting to be thankful that she had been partnered with him. It gave her a chance to get to know someone else in her dance class, her true favorite, so that she wouldn't be such an outsider in there anymore. Plus, they made a pretty good team…but very odd looking side to side as they walked onstage.

Eve hadn't noticed until they were paired together because she had mainly only seen him dance, but Matteo walked duck footed. That is, his feet splayed outward at odd angled, making his walk all waddle-y and weird looking.

Eve, on the other hand, was super energetic, even for a dancer. She had barely sat down during the whole process of developing the scene and was now nearly skipping onto the stage to announce their scene.

Matteo hung towards the back, a shy smile on his face. He couldn't keep up with her crazy energy that probably surmounted that even of the three year old they were working with.

The scene had a pretty good flow. Nice comedic timing, good jokes, enough movement to keep the eye interested on the actor.

Somehow they had dreamed up the idea of Cecelia, their actress, trying to convince herself before bedtime that "monsters aren't real." This, of course, led into a weird slapstick mix up where she thinks that the dog is, in fact, the monster that she dreamt up. She was three, so of course they couldn't do much line wise and did a lot of physical comedy, but it was pretty cute. Eve and Matteo especially had to giggle at Cecelia's various improved lines.

Probably the best bit of their scene was the song she improvised about monsters as the dog stalked onstage.

"Mommy says…monster aren't real. They're not real. No big deal. Monsters say 'come and play.' Celia says 'go away.' Lalala, monster monster, lalalalala."

At this point, Matteo and Eve were half worried that she had forgotten the rest of the scene (she had not), or would slow down the scene, or mess it up in some other fashion (she did not), but were still holing back laughter. The parents were also giggling in a good-natured way, so it was working out.

"Monsters, big and tall, m-m-m-monsters. I'm gonna kill you all. Boo!"

* * *

><p>Tori had pulled out one of her typical "last minute masterpieces" and thought of a scene that, while not genius or amazing, was good enough to get them a passing grade.<p>

It involved their girl, a chipper kid named Sydney, sitting at a kitchen table. It was like a one person show in that she had to imagine that other people were conversing with her, and her lines responded to what it was assumed the parents at the table were saying. All the while, she was slipping a dog named Wonka bits off bacon off her plate.

"No, mommy, I don't know where the bacon went," the four year old smiled innocently. She watched the imaginary mother for a second before dropping three more pieces on the ground to the dog. She watched her eat until she suddenly snapped her head up, listening to her imaginary parent's side of the conversation.

Beck nudged turned to Jared backstage, whispering, "she's pretty good at the whole pantomiming thing." Jared simply nodded, too impressed with watching their last minute creation unfold.

Tori was biting her nails in worry. Jade pointed it out. "Those are going to look pretty when you have to go back onstage, Vega," she said of Tori's scraped nail polish in a hushed tone.

"Oh, right," Tori whispered back. "I'm only freaking out because we gave Sydney like an hour to memorize lines."

"Didn't ask, don't care," Jade replied.

Just as soon as the words were out of Jade's mouth, there it was; the classic facial expression of a forgotten line smudged on Sydney's round cheeks. The blank stare, the slightly gaped mouth, the wide eyes. Tori tugged on Jared's sleeve.

"Uh," Sydney was trying to cover, make it look like she hadn't spaced out, like she'd simply been watching her imaginary stage parents talk. "Nope, I promise, Mommy," Sydney improvised, trying to make up words to say while she thought of her real lines. "Why would I steal the bacon?" She slyly slid Wonka more bacon, wide eyes still set to full glare. "I'm a veterinarian. I mean, vegetarian!"

* * *

><p>Tori and Eve were conversing backstage. It was weird how they had been worried about their kids improvising lines when Beck and Jade were about to send out a four year old boy to do a monologue about eating a dog for survival.<p>

"Could you two hens squawk after the show?" Jade sneered as she passed them in the wings on the way from the stage to her director's chair.

Onstage, the lights lit harshly. Four year old Ezra protectively hugged the furry beast beneath his arms. He was shivering and the dog was listening to the "play dead" command.

"No," Ezra wailed, "he's mine, he's my dog, you can't take him!" His voice rose to tantrum level panicking. "I won't let you take him!" He hugged the dog's neck, squeezing his eyes shut.

The audience had already settled into a startled silence.

"I don't care!" Ezra screamed at his own set of imaginary adults. "I'll kill you before you take him!" He sat up a bit straighter, trying to look taller without letting go of the comfort of his canine companion. "I'm not joking. I'd rather freeze and die than eat him!"

Some of the audience gasped. Someone even muttered "oh no."

"I don't care if you're hungry. Go eat snow. Go eat a shoe, he's _my dog_!"

"Very intense, Jade," Sikowitz murmured, his eyes never peeling from Ezra.

"Thanks," she smirked. Beck looked at her. Even though he had helped with it and seen it rehearsed, seeing it live was still sort of scaring him. Scaring people was exactly what Jade had intended the scene to do.

"No!" Ezra was absolutely screeching. Jade could practically see his mother on the edge of her seat, desperate to go grab her kid from misery. _Can't shelter them forever_, Jade thought.

Ezra was panting now, holding back stage sobs. "I'm sorry," he cried to the dog. "I don't want to. But we need to eat. We need to get saved. Planes can't save us if we all die from n-not eating. I'm sorry, Beau, I'm sorry." He stood up and looked at the dog on the stage. "I'm sorry," he muttered again. "I don't want you to go."

* * *

><p>Sikowitz walked slowly onstage, wondering if he should start filtering Jade's scripts more, but still pleased with her talent and the wide success of everyone.<p>

"Thank you very much for coming tonight and we hope you were delighted with all the young talent in this room."

He continued to droll on, thanking the children and their parents, plus the dog and dog trainer. "Last but most certainly not least, we need to thank my junior class for writing, producing, and directing these scenes." The audience applauded. "Congratulations my pupils, you've officially completed the assignment!"

**A/N: Huh? Huh? Fast update and a long chapter! Hooray! Like it? Hope you didn't mind Jade's part. I liked it, but then again I just saw a very dark (and totally brilliant) movie a few hours ago, so I'm still in that sort of mind frame. I hope you guys were pleased with your characters scenes. Don't worry, Dylan will reappear next chapter and get some time to make up for her absence in the past two. Sorry I didn't include full dialogue in the scenes. That would be hard to do. I hope you were still "delighted with all the young talent" in this chapter and please review!**


	12. Electricity

**A/N: Um…This may be my favorite chapter yet. Not even because Matteo gets his turn (I didn't even use up the whole page and a half that I use for everyone else! See? I'm not showing favorites!) but because I'm totally in love with all the descriptions I used. That, and a subtle reference to something from my favorite movie…OK, enough patting myself on the back, here you are! Hope you like it as much as I do. Yes, I caved and set it before showcase. Anyways, tada!  
><strong>

Kiara spun through the dance studio, feeling electric surges pulse through her body. She leapt across the room, landing with a soft "thump" on the floor, then swooped down to the cold ground, toes pointed, head up. She pulled herself up using her arms, turned onto her stomach, did some swooshing motion with her hands, and was back on her feet as if some gust of great wind had swept her back up.

"Very good, Kiki!" Her teacher smiled and slapped her a high-five. "Do you know what you are doing for showcase yet?" She asked, nudging Kiki hopefully, her eyes smiling 'you'll dance. You know you want to dance.'

"Mm, I dunno," Kiki teased. "I might end up playing piano or something." Kiki wagged her eyebrows, knowing full well that she'd dance. She had no idea how to play piano, anyway.

Madame Makee laughed at Kiki's quip and walked gracefully over to Eve to discuss the showcase with her.

Kiki went back to dancing, spinning like a top, and never getting dizzy. She didn't stop until Madame Makee told them to get changed back into their street clothes.

Once the final bell rang, she finished lacing up her shoes before she headed to her locker.

"Oh, hey, White," a masculine voice greeted her.

"Hey, Jared," she grinned knowingly. She quickly dialed the first number of her paint splattered locker's combination. "Sup?"

"Ah, not much. Glad we finished those scenes, huh?"

Kiki rolled her eyes, almost having forgotten. "Oh, yeah. Maybe next time we'll actually get to act. I mean, I still like dancing and English better, but it'd be cool to act for once."

"Yeah," he agreed, going back to turning the knob on his own locker that he had blasted with paint-balls, producing a locker that looked not totally unlike his neighbor's, save for the hand prints she smashed on hers. He spun the knob to the third number and pulled open his door, saying, "well, your scene wasn't half bad, you know."

Kiki laughed. "It was barely my scene! I didn't even help write it or think of the idea. Thank Robbie and Cat for that one. Dylan and I didn't even know what we were going to do."

"I still think it was good…" he stopped, wracking up some confidence. "Um, there's this new movie out, and I was thinking, maybe if you ever wanted to see it…like, with me…"

Kiara completely overshot the third number on her lock. "Wait. Are you asking me on a date, Jared?"

"Are you going to say yes?" He raised his eyebrows, his questioning face hopeful.

She could feel her cheeks flushing with heat. A boy just asked her out. Whoa.

She waited, considering it, then smiled slightly. "Yes," she answered sweetly.

"Than yes, I was," he smiled. He slammed his locker shut and waved his hand softly. "Um, I'll call you, alright?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Bye Jared."

"See you."

Oh, man. Where had that come from? She didn't even know Jared liked her!

"Why are you so smiley?" Her grandmother asked at dinner. Kiara hadn't stopped smiling since Jared asked her to a movie, not even after calling up Beth, one of her best friends, to squeal about it.

"No reason, Grandma Jackie." She played with the straw in her glass of lemonade.

"Oh?"

"I said nothing," she giggled.

"Alright, then." Her grandmother winked as if she knew what it was anyways. They picked at their chicken with their forks, waiting for Kiki's maternal grandfather, Daniel, to join them. "I'm sure he's just on the phone still," Grandma Jackie reassured.

"Talking to lawyers?" Her tone lost it's sugarcoat and now sounded plain out annoyed and unsurprised.

"No, dear, I think he was talking to your Grandpa Connor."

She lived with her grandparents. She had for two years. She and her parents had lived in Australia, she had the accent to prove it, but…both her parents had died. In two separate drunk driving accidents. So now she lived with Grandma Jackie, Grandpa Dan, her grandparents' golden retriever Spark, and her German Shepard Danica.

There were a few problems with this. The first being that she missed Australia insanely. The second being her father's parents, Clara and Connor White. They wanted her to live in Australia with them. Therefore, she was now stuck in the middle of a huge (slash hugely inconvenient) custody battle between her two sets of grandparents. _That's me_. She thought, _the human tug of war toy._

* * *

><p>Matteo stuffed another oversized bite of the sandwich into his mouth, causing the overflowing glob of jelly to plop onto the tile. He licked his chapped lips and ripped apart a sheet of perforated paper towel, wiping it lazily across the gelatinous dome. He made sure to get the majority of it up before tossing it into the metallic waste bin.<p>

He shoved another corner of bread into his mouth and went to his room to search for the polo shirt and shorts Madame Makee had instructed him to bring as uniform for his showcase piece, Electricity from Billy Elliot, brought down into his singing range. He'd have time to practice all of the crazy dancing later, of course, but right now he was just sifting through laundry and eating his sandwich contently.

There was a slight pressure change as the door downstairs opened with a _clack_ as it his the wall, and soon puppyish barks were bouncing through the hallway.

"Matty," his mom was calling his pet name from downstairs. She sounded breathless, like she had been running. He threw the polo shirt on his bed with his clean hand and walked downstairs, feet splayed as usual. He may be a graceful dancer onstage, but offstage he was an awkward walking, typical sloppy teenage boy.

He mom was wearing workout clothes and her hair, the same chocolate brown as his, was plastered with sweat to her forehead. The leash in her hand was attached to a fidgeting puppy named Gidget, who she had clearly been taking for a walk in the California sun.

"What are you doing inside?" She panted, wiping beads of sweat from her brow.

"Eating a sandwich," he replied, looking at the remaining purple stain on the tile.

"It's so pretty outside," she castigated, "you really should get out of the house. Go, get some exercise."

"I just danced for an hour. I'm exercised." He looked at her, at her rolling eyes. "Fine. I'll go take my bike out."

She unhooked the dog from its leash. He scampered into the living room, undoubtedly looking for something to destroy with his tiny razor teeth. "At least wear a helmet, bud."

"Helmets make me look dumb," he smiled, knowing how to push her buttons.

"You'll look a lot dumber with your head cracked open."

"Good point." He sauntered gracelessly to the garage, carelessly strapping on his blue helmet and grabbing the handles of his mountain bike. He'd ride it along the road to the park where he usually rode, and probably have enough time to rehearse his showcase solo before dinner once he got back.

He rode off, the sun blinding him, making him wish his mom had pestered him to bring sunglasses instead. He squinted against the sharp white glare of the sun, but continued to push off until he was on the rocky shoulder of a road a few minutes from his house.

He pressed his feet against the black pedals, urging them onwards. He was riding towards traffic, he knew, just how his grandfather had taught him. He was staying on the shoulder of the road so annoyed drivers wouldn't give him evil eyes that he couldn't see against the sun or their tinted windows.

Dusty gray pebbled flew up beneath his treaded wheels, and he shook his head as the dust drifted into his face.

He could hear the rumbling, but didn't see it until it was a few feet away, thanks to the center of the solar system conspiring to blind not only him, but apparently drivers in their cars also.

The minivan must have been pulling off onto the shoulder of the road, maybe because the kids had defied "one more peep, and I'll turn this car around" just a few too many times, maybe because the mother needed to fish out a bottle for the baby, who knew. All Matteo knew was that as he saw it, he tried to serve away, but the sun's rays pulled the front wheel of his bike straight into the front guard of the car.

He was flown into free fall above the car's front window for a panic-making moment, sickeningly forced into a flip right over the hood before his back finally connected with the car's rear window. He slid the rest of the way down, the whole ordeal lasting only a few seconds before it ended. His body crashed hard onto the gravel.

* * *

><p>"Jake, I need you," Dylan sobbed into her cell phone. "When are you coming?"<p>

"I'll be there tonight, sis, definitely by tomorrow morning." He sounded worried, too, but was acting stoic for his sister's sake. "If you don't want them to tell you anything else yet, tell them not to. They can tell me when I get there."

"OK. Please hurry," she begged her brother. She needed him here with her. This was one thing she could not and would not handle by herself.

"Will do. Love you, Dylan."

She nodded even though he couldn't see it and wiped tears from her eyes.

"Love you too, Jake. Get here soon."

She saw through the glass sliding door that the doctors were hanging up scans of her mother's brain. They pointed at a blue spot, lighter and brighter than any other. She could envision them uttering the most dreaded word in her whole vocabulary; _cancer_.

**A/N: Huh? Isn't it good? I'm really, **_**really**_** happy with this chapter. It's nice to abandon dialogue a bit and get back to describing. Makes me happy. Maybe I'm too used to writing scripts for class. Anyways, more will be revealed next chapter! Mwhahaha! And then onto the showcase. And not one of you seems to want to choose your kid's performance piece yourself. I mean, I'll pick, but I might say that it was "original" by them or something. I mainly know...OK, only know Broadway and show tunes. Almost all music outside of there is unknown to me. If you trust me, chill, thank you and I'll try not to let you down, but if you want to end up even with a specific TYPE of thing, that's cool as well. Reviews, por favor. **


	13. Dancing Through Life

**A/N:Well, this one is four pages instead of three. Lots of good moments, I think. Enjoy.  
><strong>

"Can you feel this?"

"No."

"Can you feel this?"

"No."

A doctor pulled back the standard hospital green bed curtains and the nurse who was poking his feet and legs with a needle stepped aside. Matteo's eyes fluttered, the final traces of anesthetic still luring them down. The left over ringing of sirens is out of his head, at least.

"So, we performed surgery to relieve pressure," the doctor explained attentively.

Of course they did, someone had told him that before they put him under. He could remember with perfect clarity the events leading up to this moment, too many things going on at once to forget.

Matteo's hand gingerly went up to the padded brace around his neck.

"Look, we need to talk," the doctor said. He was young looking, seems like a real person, not the one dimensional, uptight, too-old-to-relate-to doctors he sees when characters get hurt in books or on TV. "When you fell, you broke your T12 vertebrae. That's right above the Lumbar nerve-"

"I can't feel my legs," was Matteo's worried response. What was going to happen if he...if he never walked again? His whole future of a dancer, everything he had wanted since he was a little boy would be crushed. Could he still go to Hollywood Arts? Not to mention, he would probably never drive again, and he'd have to do years of physical therapy. And what about girls? Amazing how one day can change everything.

The doctor let an involuntary sigh out, pulling up a chair.

"OK, so it's like this," the young doctor started, his hands animated. "Your spinal cord has a consistency like a banana. Once you snap it, it's hard to repair." Matteo could see the look in his eyes that reveals he's trying to put this gently. "There's some experimental research into it, and you can do years of physical therapy, but what we're looking at now is probably lifetime paralysis." So much for sugarcoating.

"I'm a cripple," the boy answers still in disbelief, his voice cracking. He says it almost like a question.

The doctor paused, eyes blinking. "There's-there's this thing we can try. Real experimental, alright? No guarantees. Probably won't even do anything." He leaned forward in his seat, getting ready to explain. "So, if we act quick, there's a chance it'll reduce inflammation and there's been cases of it working. But don't get your hopes up, I'm not going to say this is a miracle treatment." Matteo tried to nod, suddenly aware once more of the brace around his neck. "To do this, we can induce hypothermia. You know what that is, right?"

"Yeah," he answered, his mouth dry.

"Lower your body temperature down to ninety two degrees over a day then take another day bringing it up. There are side effects of hypothermia, and you could catch pneumonia. That's only the tip of the iceberg."

"I want to do it."

The doctor closed his eyes for a second. "I'll need your parents to sign off, and I haven't even asked for my boss's approval. Both of which have more weight than your say."

Matteo, negative and skeptical though he was, jumped at the opportunity. "I'm a dancer. I want to try it."

The doctor looked at him. "I'll go get your parents."

* * *

><p>"Two tickets for Hunger Games," Jared told the kid at the ticket both at the new gigantic movie theater in town. The guy handed Jared his change back in addition to two paper tickets. "Thanks, man," Jared said to the guy before opening the door for Kiki.<p>

"So," Jared continued, turning to his date. "Popcorn? Soda? All of the above?"

"Hmm." She smiled, rocking back and forth. "All of the above sound good to you?"

"Plenty."

They went up to order, Jared swinging the keys to the car that his sister had let him take for the night. Kiki ordered a sprite and a medium buttered popcorn for the two of them, and Jared ordered a coke and once again handed the kid behind the counter a handful of bills.

"You don't have to pay for everything, Jared, I brought money. But thanks." Her eyes shimmered, he noticed. Her bright green eyes were even more eye catching than he'd ever remembered.

She tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear. "So, want to find a seat?"

He nodded. A girl took their ticket stubs and directed them to theater twelve. "Enjoy the movie," she said enthusiastically after exclaiming about how good it was when she saw it.

They chose a seat about three quarters of the way in the back. _Not too close to the front_, Kiki thought, _but still close enough. _She'd heard in a simulation game on her phone that sitting in the way back on a date meant you wanted privacy to hug and kiss, sitting in the front was to absorb the action of a movie, and the middle was nice and…plain.

They took their seats, put their food and drinks down, and to Kiki's surprise (and delight), Jared had put his arm around her. She did an internal happy dance and tried to calm herself down, clearing her throat.

Soon, the previews started, and they got started on their popcorn. The movie came on soon, and tons of teenagers in their theater were sucked into it completely.

Well, Kiara was watching it, and loved it, except for one thing…Jared's hand.

She knew it was cliché and this whole date was turning lovey dovey (not that that was a bad thing), but she couldn't stop staring at his hand, wondering if she should take it. Hand holding was so nice. She'd held hands a few times before, and she liked it. It was sweet.

But this was only a first date, after all. Play it cool.

Play it cool. Same thing Jared was thinking. He'd thought she was attractive from last year when he met her, but didn't even develop a crush on it, at least not that he had realized, until a few weeks ago. And then, on a random gush of confidence, the very original idea of taking her to a movie popped into his head. The classic first date.

His sister had teased him, but he had been excited all week once she had said yes. She was at a friend's house too, so for once he didn't even have to worry about his mom's gross boyfriend messing with her.

Just a nice, relaxing date. Playing it cool. Yep, that's what he was going to do…

But what about after this? Would they go on another date? Would he ask her out? Would she say yes?

He looked at his arm around her shoulders and relaxed back in his chair. He'd worry about that after the movie.

* * *

><p>"Jake!" Dylan breathlessly greeted her brother and stole him into a hug before he could even react. He looked down at her then wrapped his arms around her in return.<p>

"I'm so glad you came!"

"Me too," he said, but there was an undertone of hesitance and confusion to his voice. "Where's Mom?"

Dylan dropped her arms. "She's in there." She pointed into a room across the hall. "I'm scared."

Her older brother nodded. "I know." He inhaled. "You want to come with me? To see what the doctors have to say?"

Dylan paused. What if they had a diagnosis? Did she want to hear it at the same time as her brother, or make him tell her himself after he already knew? She didn't want to do that to Jake. They'd hear it together. Still, she wanted a buffer. She didn't want to hear some total stranger telling her the worst news in her life, like they had when her father died.

"I don't know, Jake. I-" Her voice broke and she could feel unwanted tears threatening to fall again. "I just want her to be OK. And I'm so scared they'll say something…something bad, but I need her!"

"Oh God," Jake whispered to himself. The last thing he wanted to see was his little sister crying. "Listen, Dill. I'm scared, too. I don't want anything to happen to her either, but if-if something does, I'll always be here for you. I'll always be your big brother." He squeezed her into a hug, her tears soaking into his flannel shirt.

She sobbed and sniffled, her worry cut just a little bit by this sibling moment. She couldn't remember a time when she was gladder to have him as a brother. They stayed in a hug for a minute, neither of them speaking, until Jake stood up. "You want to come, sis?"

She wiped crystal tears from her eyes and nodded.

He patted her on the back and swaggered bravely into the room. She followed close behind.

Jake shook the doctor's hand before the duo took a seat on the room's sofa.

Dylan half listened and was half too afraid to listen to the doctor's speech, but she took notice of everything else. His hands were clasped together, his face stern, his body leaning towards them and feet spread apart. He licked his lips and shook his head, his mouth still delivering news.

"Brain cancer."

And there it was; her life was changed forever. In that moment, everything she knew was flipped. She felt her stomach mirror the flip and grabbed onto Jake's arm.

She repeated the phrase in her head before she strung the words together. She threw her head against Jake's shoulder and cried bloody murder. She hadn't cried this hard in years, but it was like her eyes were exploding with daggers of tears.

"No!" She was crying all sorts of things into her brother's shoulder. "No, I don't want it! Please! Please! She's not dying! No!"

She couldn't even let the doctor explain anything else, she was crying so hard.

Jake hugged her tightly once more.

* * *

><p>"I'm walkin' on sunshine, whoa-oh! I'm walking on sunshine-" Eve sang along joyfully.<p>

"Eve, your foot was completely sickle! Show me that section again," Madame Makee ordered.

Eve sucked in a breathe of air and threw her arms up, ready to practice again. She would practice so much to prepare for the showcase. Sure, it was fun, but she wanted to look good. There might be some talent scouts out there.

Luckily, Madame Makee had agreed to stay after school on Friday to help her with it. Apparently a lot of kids were asking for her help.

"I have to choreograph Kiki's acro dance, Annabelle needs polishing, I need to make sure Matteo nails his fouette turns, and Diana doesn't even have her music yet," Madame Makee had explained to Eve when she waltzed into the studio an hour ago, simultaneously pinning up her hair.

"Go again, Eve."

Eve pressed the button on the sound system and soon echoes of music were vibrating the room.

Eve got through the dance twice more before Cat entered.

"Eve, your Mom's waiting for you in the parking lot."

"Thanks, Cat."

Madame Makee smiled. "They will come see you perform in the showcase, will they not?"

Eve picked up her bag and looked between the two. "They-I-yeah. Yeah, probably," she said to Makee.

She looked at Cat's confused expression. Sweet Cat who didn't know what Eve's parents were like. Lucky her. "I have to go."

* * *

><p>"And then Jay and I-"<p>

"For the love of God, he likes you!" Jade nearly shouted at Beth.

"Wha-what?" Beth could usually deal with anything Jade said even better than her closest friends, but now she was left with nothing to say back.

Jade growled. "You talk about him all the time 'oh, Jay is so special, he's so nice, blah blah blah!' and you never notice the way he looks at you! I'm sick of you two talking about each other all the time and never seeing it. You like each other. There." Jade crossed her arms.

Beth blinked, as if when she opened them, the world would open anew. "I…I suppose he's…"

Leave it to Jade to make someone feel uncomfortable after one remark.

"Maybe I do."

**A/N: Yay, extra long chapter with everybody! More will come next chapter, especially with Beth and Eve since their parts were shorter (and the people with bigger parts here, Matteo cough cough, will have shorter parts next time). Then, I'll have a class scene, and maybe not in Sikowitz's class for once. Hope you liked this chapter (since it is long and jam packed with action) and please review!**


	14. One Short Day

**A/N: Hi! I'm alive! I really apologize for the long wait. I just finished spring beak, most of which I was out of state (and away from my computer) for, and I head school stuff to do today and Monday, but I'm back! This chapter is fairly short compared to the others, but this length means I can get another one out sooner. Hope you enjoy! And thanks to XTurtleInstinctX for bouncing ideas with me ****:) **

**OK, so here's how the next few chapters will work. I don't want to overload you guys with showcase performance after performance, so I'm setting the rest of the story after showcase, and I'll revisit all of their performances gradually, in a sort of flashback way. Got that? Ok. **

"Trina!" Tori Vega looked at her older sister in dismay.

"What?" The other Vega girl asked through a mouthful of ice cream.

Tori took a seat next to Trina at their kitchen table, slumping in disappointment. "I was saving that ice cream, you know. I bought it for our post showcase party. Please tell me there's some left?"

Trina glanced into the ice cream container, scraping her spoon towards the bottom until she could see the white carton below the small mound of frozen dairy. "Not much. Sorry, sis."

"What's up with you? I thought ice cream didn't go with your fitness…whatever." Trina was usually concerned with staying fit. Sure, she was fine with occasional slices of cake or cookies and stuff like that, but downing a whole carton of ice cream was totally unlike her; and the classic sign of a sad teenage girl.

And then the floodgates opened. Trina told Tori all about Hunter and his stupid girlfriend Annabelle and how Trina ended up looking stupid in front of her whole class and-

"Whoa, slow down, Trina. You're getting all upset about some boy?" Trina nodded slowly, face crunched up. "Awe, Trina! Well, listen, he doesn't deserve you if he was being a jerk."

Trina dropped her spoon into the empty carton. "Thanks for telling me what I already know! Gosh, I looked so stupid though! And-it wasn't even Hunter's fault, okay? If I had just listened when he told me he had a girlfriend, I wouldn't have gotten laughed out of class!" Trina groaned, frustrated, and let her head fall into her hands. "And now he probably thinks I'm a psycho, and so do all his cute friends. Way to go, me!" She ended sarcastically.

Tori made a pouting frown for her sister's benefit. "Well, I still love you."

"Yeah, like that counts! Of course you love me, I'm your amazing older sister! But what about all the important people?"

Tori stood up, shoving her chair in harshly. "Alright, fine, Trina, I'll let you deal with this yourself then."

Trina whined her sister's name as Tori started striding up to her bedroom, having given up on playing the "sweet little supportive sister" role.

"Forget it!" Tori called back down. "We can talk later, I have to get ready for the party!"

* * *

><p>"Eve, darling, you can drive yourself home from that party tonight, can't you?"<p>

Eve looked at her mother, surprised that she was surprised. Of course her mom would be too busy to pick her up. "Sure, Mom."

"Remember, no speeding, drive carefully, and no driving your friends around-" Eve's mother paused, considering what consequences to put in place. She would threaten taking Eve's driving privileges away, but that meant inconveniencing both of them.

"Or-?" Eve prompted. She wasn't a fan of encouraging her mother to revoke her license, but it _would_ be nice to see her actually put the threat down, act like a parent just this once, and tell her that she might actually do something. Like she might actually react to anything going on in her daughter's life. Maybe she'd even actually revoke it because Eve's bad driving _scared_ her, worried her. Like a real mother should.

"Or…" Her mother sighed. "You'll be grounded this weekend." Of course, her mom had heard all of the horror stories about Eve's friends, even when her daughter didn't think she was paying attention. She'd heard about the girl whose father died in a drunk driving accident. Heck, she was pretty sure Eve had two or three friends who lost someone that way _at least_. "Be careful, alright? You haven't been driving very long and I'm still not very comfortable with you driving at night. Make sure you're home before curfew."

Even nodded. Of course, she knew she'd drive well enough to pass on that, but it almost made her happy to hear her mom do some interactive parenting again. Eve nodded again and went to pick up her silver keys from a bowl on the counter, its glass surface swimming in streaks of color.

* * *

><p>"Oh, Bethy!" Beth's little sister Janine giggled.<p>

"What have you got there?" The older sister smiled, looking over Janine's shoulder to take a glimpse at her picture.

"It's for yooooou!" She elongated her response, delivering it in a cutesy sing-song voice. Clasped in Janine Park's tiny hands was a white sheet of printer paper, covered in a five year old's crayon drawings. It showed a very basically drawn girl in a ball gown standing next to a black haired boy. "It's you and Jay!" She smiled brightly.

Beth wondered if Janine was trying to annoy her or not. "Thanks, sissy. Do you want to be an artist someday?" She asked innocently. If her sister was being sweet, she better be sweet back, and if she was trying to annoy her, better not to let her think it had worked.

Janine tilted her head in thought. "I don't know. I'm only five!" She smiled at getting a giggle out of Beth. "Do _you _wanna marry Jay? And then you guys would be hubby and wife, and I'd be your maid of honor!"

Beth blushed. "Where did you get an idea like that?"

"I watched wedding dress shows with Mommy today."

Beth took a deep breath. "No, silly girl, where did you get the idea about Jay and I ever getting married?"

Janine nodded, as if the clouds had cleared in her head. "Oh! Because Mommy was saying you guys is cute together." Beth glared at her, blushing. "Don't worry, you got me to help you. I picked out a dress for your party tonight!" Janine grabbed Beth's hand and lead her to Beth's room, where she had laid out Beth's pinkest, most girlishly glamorous dress in her entire wardrobe.

"Oh-oh, um, thanks, Jan, but it's not a fancy dance or anything. We're just celebrating the Big Showcase. I was just going to wear this." She gestured to her outfit; a pair of jeans with a gold swirling design on the pockets and down one leg, and a baggy yet pretty purple shirt.

"Okay, if you say so," Janine said reluctantly.

Beth ruffled her hair and pulled out her now vibrating phone, flashing a text that Jay was in the driveway waiting to drive the both of them to Tori's party.

Janine waved goodbye as her sister ran down the steps. "Good luck with Jaaaaaay!"

* * *

><p>Tori opened the door once again. It was still pretty early. So far only Eve, Andre, Cat, Beth, and Jay had arrived. "Hi, guys!" She greeted Kiara and Jared (who had his arm around the black haired beauty).<p>

"Come on in!"

**A/N: And I'm cutting it off there because...I don't know how to keep it going without doubling the chapter, which means even more wait time. I'll update this-actually, I might not be able...OK, I'll update within the week, alright? Sorry again guys, next chapter will be longer!**


	15. Tonight

**A/N: Hi readers! I have a question for you; would you guys prefer the longer, less frequent 2,000 word updates, or faster 1,00 word updates? I'm cool with whichever. It'll be much easier to update once I finish the school year, as we're doing a lot of serious testing these next few weeks. Anyways, enjoy!**

**Oh, a final note; Dylan and Matteo's parts won't be skipping ahead to after showcase. This is because, with all that just happened to them, I'd be able to keep the drama going more if I didn't skip time. Make sense? Only, They might show up in the present too, or at least be mentioned. I'm bad at explaining. You'll see.**

"Yeah, I love this song!" Jared announced, rocking his head back and forth. Andre gave him a high five, and Robbie turned up the tunes, happy to see his CD was keeping the Hollywood Arts kids happy.

"Ooh, you know what I love?"

"What, Cat?" Jade sighed.

"Cake! Haha!" Cat smiled and handed Jade a slice of her home made red velvet cake, but Beck intercepted it. "Your brother didn't help you bake that, did he?" Cat shook her head in return, and Beck nodded approval and passed it back to Jade. He even grabbed a slice for himself once reassured that Cat's infamous brother had no hand in it. "This is good, Cat."

"Yay!" Cat giggled and continued passing out cake. "Ooh, Dylan! You want some cake?"

Dylan looked startled by hearing her name. She didn't even want to be here, but Jake insisted. He thought seeing her friends, and dancing, and eating cake was way better than sitting at home being miserable and wallowing in fear. Dylan knew his response was logical, but she still wasn't in a party mood, not at all. "Yeah. Thanks, Cat." She'd been keeping her mother's cancer under wraps, brushing off her friends when they asked why she looked sad or whatever. It wasn't their place, and Dylan wasn't the 'talk about your feelings' type anyway.

"I'm glad you're back! We missed you in school," Cat said, the smile never leaving her face.

"Um, yeah," Dylan stammered, "well, you know…I didn't want to miss the Big Showcase, and my brother says if I was in the Showcase, I should be at the party." Cat enthusiastically agreed, exclaiming her love of parties.

Beck, after downing another bite of frosting, added "speaking of missing the showcase, anyone heard from Matteo?" Jade, and Cat said they hadn't. Dylan hadn't even realized he was gone considering her mom had been keeping her totally distracted and she had missed some school herself.

"Why, what's wrong with Matteo?"

"We don't know," Cat said, "he hasn't been in class for weeks. Sikowitz hasn't said anything."

Dylan shrugged.

Meanwhile, Eve somehow got stuck listening to Trina ramble on about "lost love" or something like that. "Is that-oh my gosh-did Tori _invite _Hunter's _girlfriend_?"

Eve turned to look at the older girl Trina pointed to. "Oh, Annabelle? She's in my dancing class. What's wrong with her?"

"Wha-what's _wrong_ with her? She's dating the guy I wanted!"

Eve asked if Annabelle had stolen Hunter as she adjusted her headband. Trina managed to stammer out a "no," before Eve quickly realized she shouldn't have asked. Why? Because it sent Trina into tears. "Maybe you should talk to your sister about this…" she said, backing away to grab Tori.

"Eve, why are you dragging me-oh, Trina…yay…" Tori sighed, realizing she was once more going to have to comfort Trina. Hopefully she could find the magic words to get Trina over 'situation Hunter.'

Eve gratefully accepted a slice of cake and a fork from the Hollywood Art's cute, quirky redhead. "So, Cat, you having fun yet?"

"Uh huh! Parties are so much fun! Well, except for Trina. Doesn't she like parties?"

"She's crushed over some guy who doesn't like her back."

"Awe, unrequited love!" Cat put her free hand over her heart dramatically. She just loved movies! Ooh, maybe she would star in a romance movie one day! She could see it now, her name up in lights, posters of her and the lead all around town! "That's so dramatic," she giggled happily.

Eve tilted her head and looked at Trina again. "Yeah, in a way. But sad."

"Sad romances," Cat sighed. "Like in a movie!"

"Yep. Just like in that new one, have you seen the trailers? Called 'Isn't it…' Oh, I don't remember."

"Yeah, yeah!" Cat bounced, even in her heels. "I love the actor who plays the guy!"

Eve and Cat kept talking about the newest chick flick, while Beth was having a chick flick moment of her own.

She couldn't even have fun. Her brain was too full of Jay-inspired nervous energy. "Beth, what are you thinking about?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing Jay. Just something my sister said."

Jay chuckled. "she's a funny kid."

"Funny, yes. That is exactly the word I was thinking…"Beth looked at her hands folded over her lap, uncomfortable.

Jay threw his arm around the back on the couch they were sitting on. "Ah, what did the kid do to turn you sarcastic?"

"Ah, she was just…you know, being an annoying little sister." Beth felt like she was lying through her teeth. She never said her sister was annoying, surely Jay would recognize her cover up.

"So, Beth." Jay stopped himself and took a deep breath, Then he ran his hand through his dark hair and continued, "Look, I heard what Jade said."

Beth's eyes grew twice in size. "Y-you did?"

Jay nodded. "I did. Any you know what, Beth?"

* * *

><p>Matteo felt his lungs being entirely crushed into a pulp by his mother. His father stood back, watching. There was a dark glimmer in his eyes, a look of disbelief, horror, and misery. His worst nightmare had just happened. One of his kids was seriously injured.<p>

"Teo," he said, his voice choked. Matteo had never seen him like this before. "What happened?"

Matteo looked between his parents. Of course someone must have told them about the car. "It was too bright. I ran my bike right into that car-I-" He didn't want them to tell him that he was wrongfully taking the blame as per usual, he didn't want to reiterate that he was paralyzed. He just wanted to be quiet. He looked to the doctor.

The doctor, sensing his cue, took a breath in. "Your son and I were discussing a treatment; and experimental treatment…"

A few hours later, his parents had signed all the forms and treatment had begun; induced hypothermia. Matteo had tried to engrave the process in his head, how cooling the body to 92 degrees would help prevent cell death or something, how he'd be monitored, how the hypothermia could give him pneumonia, or symptoms like confusion and blue lips, fingers, and toes. But now that they had started bringing his temperature down, he couldn't notice anything else but the painful cold. He couldn't think about how this might save his ability to walk, to _dance_, nothing. He was so bitterly hypothermic that he barely even registered when his parents told him that both his older siblings were on their way to see him from their colleges. He just wanted _out._

Hopefully he would come to look back on this as a small price to pay to be able to walk again.

* * *

><p>"So, great couple of weeks, right?" Jared said to Kiki. "Went to the movies, went surfing, did amazing in the showcase, we're at a party…"<p>

Kiki rolled her eyes and playfully slapped him. "Enough sweet talking. Let's dance."

He obligingly took her arm and led her to the designated dance floor. "I'm no dancer like you," he warned her.

"Please, you think I want to dance with you for the sake of dancing?"

"Ooh, guess not. So, does that mean you'd agree to go on another date with me?"

"Of course. Anything else you want to ask me?" Kiki was only half aware that she practically prompted his next question.

"Would you…say yes to being my girlfriend?"

Kiki's dance moves lagged for a second as she took this in. "I would, Jared."

**A/N: So, did you like it? I know, I gave my own character a fairly big chunk, but if it makes you feel any better, I wasn't too fond of it. Couldn't decide if it should start there or skip forward some. But I think everyone else was alright, and yes, romance heavy! Huh, normally I hate romance. I actually enjoyed this. Hope you did too, and please review! (In Cat voice) Haha, that rhymed!**


	16. Anything Goes

**A/N: Hmm, so most of you said I should alternate between long and short updates and chapters. Good advice, readers. Much appreciated. Though now the showcase flashbacks are bugging me. I mean, for the singers, what is there to do besides list lyrics? Same for dancers, only adding dance moves. I dunno-almost easier just for Sikowitz to review them in a class scene. Like, say what they did, how they felt about it, how the audience reacted, if the messed up, their costume…which I ended up doing. If you guys aren't pleased with that, I shalst be pleased to fixeth it. Onward, good readers!  
><strong>

**Oh, yeah, this is also the final time Matteo's will be set earlier than the rest.  
><strong>

"Hunt, you still had fun, didn't you?" Annabelle examined her boyfriend, who was concentrating on driving them back to her house.

"Oh, yeah." He looked at her, at his steering wheel, and back at her before a smile crept onto his face. "You're a great dancer."

"I take ballet!"

"Yeah, but we weren't doing _ballet_."

"What _were_ we doing?"

Hunter laughed bashfully. "I have no clue. Whatever you call random flailing?"

Annabelle went on to recap funny mishaps at the party, saying how much fun all of her friends were. "Still…did you see Vega?"

"Which one?"

Annabelle looked at Hunter. She didn't look amused at all. "Hunter. You know which one. _Her._ Trina." Getting jealous so was not like Annabelle. What did she have to be jealous of? Like, it was fine when Trina didn't know he was dating her, but when she kept bugging Hunter after that? Whining about how she couldn't have him? No. Annabelle was not at all too happy about that, but she didn't know what there was to do. It wasn't like she would gossip about her or anything-Annabelle was too nice for that.

"I know, but Annabelle, that happened weeks ago. Can't you, like, let it go or something?" Not that Hunter was enjoying taking up so many of Trina's thoughts. "Forgive her. She's not chasing me anymore, so I try to ignore it. I mean, it's in the past right?"

"Yeah. Sure."

* * *

><p>"Do you realize <em>two <em>separate couples got together at our party, Tori? Oh, it is on. I've been patient enough, but it is my turn to shine!" Trina didn't understand how boys weren't at their doorstep begging her to date them. They ought to be.

"O_kay_, whatever you say, Trina." Tori swept her arm across the table to knock all of the garbage into the nearby trashcan.

"Tori, I'm serious. Boys of Hollywood Arts beware!"

Tori giggled. "Yeah, beware, that sounds about right."

* * *

><p>Beth tiptoed up to her spacious bedroom. It turned out the rest of her family was already sleeping. She closed her door and turned on her light, walked over to her bed, picked up her purple satin pillow, and screamed into it. Jay liked her back! Jay actually had a crush on her back! Oh, she felt like Cinderella! Was that dramatic? Oh, but it was true! Her first ever boyfriend. This was so exciting! She couldn't wait to tell someone.<p>

She was grinning from ear to ear. She really thought that Jay was going to be embarrassed and awkward and it would ruin their whole friendship because he wouldn't like her back, but her worrying was for nothing.

It seemed like love was all over Hollywood Arts. It was seriously in the air, like a contagion. Students everywhere were being rendered helpless against love.

* * *

><p>Sikowitz marched back and forth across his classroom, pretending he was actually a tough guy. "Atten<em>tion<em>!" He bellowed. "It has come to my attention that there is something going around our beloved school," he told them.

The kids looked at each other, puzzled. They hadn't heard about any illness going around. Sikowitz looked at them, then did a double take. "Love!" He shouted. A good percentage of the kids squirmed uncomfortably. How lame to have your teacher call you out on dating. "Now, we all know emotions can be channeled in acting, so I thought we'd do a little skit about love." Some kids looked at him in horror. "Take Beck and Jade for example-"

"Sikowitz!" Jade interrupted.

"Relax, Jade, I was just kidding! We'll just work on our improvisation today. So," he clapped his hands together," anybody have any requests?"

"Um, Sikowitz," Robbie said amongst suggestions of the alphabet game, sound effects, and quick change, "aren't you going to talk about the showcase?"

"Oh, yes! Thank you, Robbie." He sat down, getting ready for discussion, and took a long sip of refreshing coconut juice. "Remember, like in the bird scene, as long as you are proud of what you did, you passed. Who here passed?" Hands shot up at various rates until everyone raised theirs. "Good! Now, let's start with Robbie and Cat…"

Robbie and Cat had done a great rendition of "Suddenly Seymour" from the musical _Little Shop of Horrors_, and they were a total hit. Robbie wore a simple black button down and slacks while Cat wore a cute pink dress, which fit her personality and her character's. The song went off without a hitch, but Robbie and Cat were so perfect for the roles, it was bound to at least have stunning acting.

Eve did an awesome modern dance to "Walking on Sunshine," proving that endless hours of sweating and staying after school busting your hump in preparation paid off. With her sunrise orange short skirt twirling, and her top glittering under the stage lights, Eve thought the costume was a bit literal, but she had a great time. She didn't even messed up. So much practice had drilled her routine into her head. She now wondered if she'd ever forget the choreography.

Tori's song was a showstopper, of course. Everyone loved Tori's very first Hollywood Arts performance. She was so happy about it, it proved to her that she belonged here. Andre did fantastic as well. Though, no one doubted he would. He was the school's go to music man, after all.

Kiara did her specialty; acro dance. It was to an upbeat, sort of jazzy song called "I've Got Music in Me," by Kiki Dee (yes, ironic that they shared a name, as so many people pointed out to her) which Kiara had a love hate relationship with. On one hand, it was an awesome song combined with an awesome, complicated routine. On the other hand, she had done it so many times, she was glad it was over with. It was a great moment, though. All eyes on her. Her grandparents were both there, and even agreed to videotape it for her other grandparents in Australia. Sure, they were fighting over her, but they could at least be civil. She even nailed that one move she kept forgetting in rehearsal. She hoped some talent scouts had been out there watching, but even if they hadn't, it was great to blow the audience away, even if only for three minutes.

Beck did a student written monologue that brought the house to tears and earned even earned him a lone rose thrown onstage. Jade was not pleased by that last part, but did give him a kiss for his amazing performance. And to mark her territory.

Jade West did pretty well herself. She sang backup for a couple of songs, but for her own performance, she had directed a ten minute scene. For once, it wasn't even a scary scene. Not sad, either. Just down to earth and packed full of emotion. Maybe Jade would end up working behind the scenes, writing films instead of staring in them.

Jared did "Mess" by B. Reith. A lot of Hollywood Arts kids were actually surprised, they had had him pegged as a pure rap and drumming type. The song was chiller than they thought it would be, and of course his sister was proud of him…and Kiki. His mom had even showed up, though she for some reason dragged along her boyfriend. Ugh. Oh well, at least the guy acted decently that night. Everyone seemed to realize how important that night was for him and his twin, who did a very lovely scene with a friend herself.

Beth looked so pretty. She wore a flowing green dress adorned with rhinestones, and her makeup was done perfectly. She hadn't known it then, but she had completely made Jay unable to turn his attention from her, and he nearly forgot his first line, having to look at his script seconds before they went on. They did a scene from _The Fantasticks. _The scene-between a boy and girl falling in love was adorable, and completely fitting, though they didn't know that yet.

Finally, there was Dylan. Her brother came for her, and her mom actually managed to come. That was bittersweet. "This isn't about Mom," Jake had said to her, "it's all about you, sis. Knock 'em dead." She gave him a thumbs up before scurrying backstage. When she actually got onstage-she was frozen. Thankfully, what seemed like minutes to her was actually only a few seconds and it all ended up fine as soon as she hit center stage, guitar in hand. For the first time in weeks, strumming a song she wrote herself for her dad, she felt like herself again.

"I'll talk to each of you about it later, but…we did it! Talent scouts were there, you children proved to them what this school is about! And _now_ onto improv! Cat, Eve, Jade, Beck, rise!"

* * *

><p>Matteo found that he couldn't swallow. This happened when he was out of breath, or when he was panicking. Both of those things happened to him lately. Panic; yeah, of course he had panicked. There was so much to make him panic. As for out of breath, well, that was simpler. He was getting out of breath just pushing his wheelchair down the hall. They'd started rehabilitation that morning, and he was dead tired.<p>

Tonight was the night he was supposed to be in the showcase. He turned to the nurse in the room with him, mustering up some courage. "Hey, do you think I-" He stopped. He didn't like having to ask this, "think I'll ever be able to dance again? Honestly." Matteo, ever the pessimist, could have predicted her answer.

"…There's no telling right now," she said after some thought. "Maybe someday."

* * *

><p>Eve smiled, listening to her dance teacher praise her later that day. So what if her parents weren't there for her right now as much as she wanted them to be? The both made it to her Showcase, and bought her flowers, but were all business the next day. She heard some kid's parents go on and on about their own kid's performance, sometimes about other kid's performances in addition, for weeks. Not hers. But she had her teachers, and they all rocked.<p>

"Eve, what are you doing?" Her dance teacher shouted. "Clean it up, do it again!" She turned her attention to the whole class. "You think just because you nailed the showcase, you're a perfect dancer and can work less hard now? No! From the beginning!"

Oh, man. Hollywood Arts didn't understand the meaning of "break."

**A/N: Tada! Omg, guys, I'm so sorry this took me so long to post. I started it and kept going back to my other story…I respect you guys (and am super appreciative of your support for this story) so I won't lie, I've been slacking off on this for my other story because I just recently regained a passion for writing it. I'm used to loving it again, though, and I finally got through this chapter, so all will be more fair from here on out. So, oh loyal readers, do you have any suggestions for things you want to happen to your characters, or anything else? I do owe you guys. Don't worry, I still have tricks up my sleeve for this one :)**

**PS, darn Kiki for making me like that song. It's strangely addictive to listen to.  
><strong>


	17. It Sucks To Be Me

**A/N: Sorry! Sorry I've been gone. I've been on official hiatus, even though I started this weeks ago. I've just been really busy at school but I'm coming back and will finally be able to stick o my update goals! So, sorry guys. I'm also starring in a play that has performances throughout the summer, which could get in the way sometimes. I'll try to update on a regular basis from now on. Maybe once a week. We'll see.**

Monday came and went as quickly as a Monday can, which is to say it slipped past as fast as molasses down a ten degree angle. Painfully slow. Unbearably slow. It was boring, but so is every day. Monday is just that day people can't wait to expel because it means part of the working week is already over. You've gotten it over with, and in another day, it'll be about half over. It's the first day coming back from a break, even the average two day weekend, that sucks.

What sucks more is coming back after two weeks. Especially when you don't want to deal with questions. A god amount of kids could tell you, the worst part of coming back after being sick is the attention. Your classmate's curiosity. You don't want to tell them why you were gone. If it was bad, you don't want to make it sound like you were whining or just want it to stay in the past. The worst, though, is being slightly sick, just enough to be met with "you stayed home for _that_? That's nothing! I always come to school when I'm sick!"

But, no. To Matteo, that'd be fine. He'd crack jokes with them, beat them to it, and soon it would be forgotten. No insult would surpass his quick wit.

It would take a lot more than quick wit and time to escape attention for this. He used to think he enjoyed the spotlight, but now he was realizing how stupid that was.

He wasn't even going back yet. He wasn't ready and was far too busy with rehabilitation, though he had done some homework his mom picked up for him. It was a performing art school, not exactly the sort of stuff you can make up when you miss it. All he was going to do was go in with his parents and talk about what things would be like now. This, of course, would mean dropping dance class, or so he figured. It wasn't like he could do anything in there for the moment.

"Matteo, it'll be fine," his older sister Katie assured him. Katie and their older brother AJ were both in college but had come down to see him when they got the news. _Katie _was a professional dancer. "Really."

"You promise?" He said with big, sarcastic puppy dog eyes.

"Snippy much? Matty, chill out. People care about you. I swear, the school won't kick you out."

"Thanks, Katie. I'm so glad someone finally told me to be optimistic."

"Again with the sarcasm, little bro." Katie sat on his bed and grabbed a remote controller. "Here. Stop worrying and relax. What's your favorite video game these days?" He pointed out a game case sitting on the carpet by his laundry bin, showcase outfit buried in the bottom.

"Bet I can beat you!"

Matteo smiled. "You never were good at betting."

* * *

><p>Jared stashed his books on the dining room table. He had just gotten home from a date with Kiki and expected to see Cara in her room and his mom missing. What he saw instead ruined whatever sense of security he had built up.<p>

His mom's boyfriend was trying to cuddle his sister, trying to throw his arm around her. Cara tried to squirm away from the man's drunken grasp.

"Hey!" Jared dropped everything else he was holding and quickly strode over. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Jared, calm down," he said coolly.

"Don't touch my sister!" He snarled. Jared was only an inch shorter than Fred, his mom's current beau. He wasn't intimidated. How dare this guy touch a sixteen year old girl? He was, like, fifty! Jared grabbed his hand. Cara inched away in a hurry to the other side of the room.

"Get out of our house!" Jared was on infuriated autopilot at this point. "You leave my sister alone!" He yelled, shoving Fred.

"Jared!" Cara yelled. Tears cascaded all down her cheeks. Why was she yelling at him?

"He touched you!" Cara ran to her room.

"Cara," both Jared and Fred cooed. Ew.

"I'm not joking, Fred, get out and leave my family alone."

"You bossing me around? Didn't your mom ever teach you to respect people?"

"Don't talk about my mom!" Jared yelled as he ran to the kitchen. He threw open the door and gestured to the driveway. Fred smiled evilly as if he was enjoying Jared's anguish. "Go!"

Fred stood in the doorway, arms crossed. Jared's mom had dated some awful guys in the past, but he was the worst. This was the final straw.

Jared took out his phone. "I'll call 911. Really. I'll do it." He hesitated, then started to dial.

* * *

><p>Trina stared at Annabelle. Annabelle stared back.<p>

They had just been assigned as partners. They had to do an art project together.

"So," Annabelle said, trying to fill time.

"What are the odds?" Trina said. She leaned closer to Annabelle. "Look, I know you're dating Hunter. Kudos to you, by the way. And I hit on him. Awkward, right? But you have no worries. I won't try to steal him from you. I'm not that kind of girl."

"Oh yeah? It sure seemed like you were a few days ago."

"Yeah, but that was a few days ago! I swear, I'm done. There are hotter guys, no offense, and one of them will be mine. No hard feelings?"

Annabelle paused. "We'll see."

Trina giggled awkwardly. "So, uh…know any cute guys?"

Annabelle glared at her.

"Okay, changing the subject…what do you want to do for the project?"

It was going to be a long day.

**A/N: So, I'm back! I have a lot of stuff coming up. And then a big thing with all the characters. I hope you enjoyed even though this was only 2 pages, I just wanted to get something up. Please review.**


	18. I've Never Been In Love Before

Trina put her head in her hands. It had been twenty minutes already and she and Anna still didn't have a project idea. "Alright," Trina muttered, "we're running out of time. Look, we both like boys."

"And shoes," her project partner chimed in.

"Totally. And dancing. I'm a great dancer, you know."

Anna snorted. "yeah, you've only said that four times already."

Trina shrugged. "Just stating the facts." She tilted her head in though and looked out the window. Darn it, why was this project so open ended? Stupid teacher, pairing kids together and telling them to come up with something on their own. Where was the fun in that? Ugh, it was too much work, it you asked Trina. "Boys, shoes, and dancing. All I can think of is making a sculpture of a big ballet slipper."

"Yeah, but what does that say? It's too easy!" Anna insisted.

"Look, girl, I don't care about 'saying something' with this," Trina explained using air quotes. "I just want to finish this assignment!"

"Not very artistic of you." She twirled her pencil around on her desk, leaving gray marks all over it. "Hey, Vega. I have a compromise. What do you think of this? A giant ballet slipper."

"So if I suggest it, it's boring, but if you say it, it works?"

"If the ballet slipper's ribbon is untied and being pulled on both sides by two hands. Like a tug of war."

Trina smiled. After all, they had just finished a tug of war of sorts over a boy. "Let's get started."

* * *

><p>"Jared, I don't even know what to say," the twin's mother said with dismay.<p>

_You could thank me for getting that sleazebag away from your daughter, _Jared thought. Why couldn't his mom see things from his point of view? The man was a class A, scummy _creep_, and she wasn't happy that her son stepped up to the plate and defended his sister? Was she blind?

Cara looked like she wanted to speak up, but she stayed silent. Jared looked at her. Was everyone in his family a coward?

"Mom, I had to. He wouldn't leave and he kept _grabbing _Cara!"

His mom looked startled. "He didn't touch you, did he Cara?"

"Nothing bad, just tried to put his arm around me-"

"That is bad," Jared added.

His mom took a long, deep breath. "You're okay, sweetie?" Cara nodded. "That's all he did?" She repeated the action. "Give me a minute to process this."

* * *

><p>"It's like <em>magic<em>!" Beth gushed.

"I know what you mean," responded Eve. Normally the two girls barely talked. They weren't close friends or anything (eve had never been too keen on their notable height difference, for one), but Beth just wanted to talk to another girl. She wanted to tell all her friends. Well, one at a time, maybe. All at once seemed a bit too much like Snow White talking to her little group of animal friends. That was Snow White, wasn't it? Oh, what did it matter! Beth had her own Prince Charming now, all Disney movies paled in comparison. The over the top plots couldn't match the dulcet subtleties and joys of real love.

"You know what I mean?" Beth finally asked. She smiled. "Ooh, is there is there a special someone in your life?"

"Not really. I don't know yet. Nothing to get excited about, Beth. Go back to your happy ranting."

"Right! So this morning Jay drove me to school and we were both so-excited-happy-I don't know! It's so new, and I love it!" She giggled. "Eve, I'm in love with love!"

"I can tell." Beth may be in love with Love (and Jay), but Eve had a different subject of admiration. A certain, cute little-

"Guys!" Cat bounced over to them. "Come on, Sikowitz has big news today!"

Eve stared at her. Beth was the one to remind Cat that they had fifteen minutes until the bell rang. "I know, but it's _big news_! You guys hear about it?" She smiled excitedly. "No? I guess I won't tell you. Surprises are fun, right? Right!"

"Cat, c'mon!" Andre called from where he stood with Jade, Robbie, Beck, and Tori. "We still need to talk to Mr. Brown before first period."

"Oh! Right!" Cat chirped. "Bye guys!"

Beth answered "bye!" and had to knock Eve on the arm to get her to pay attention. "Oh. Bye, Cat."

_You're sixteen, man_, Matteo thought, _cowboy up. _He arrived early that day, his first day back. The principal was letting him stay, that was good. Matteo may not have been able to dance, but he could still act and write comedy routines. It was better than going to a normal school.

Tori Vega was the first student to see him upon his return. She was talking to Robbie and saw him in the background before doing a double take. "Oh my gosh, Matteo!" She walked up to him, concern written all over her pretty little face. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Matteo's cheeks felt all hot. He wondered if he was blushing. "I-I ran my bike into a car." To his surprise, it actually felt good to tell someone, get it over with.

"Are you okay?" She repeated.

"Uh…" He stammered. "I will be. I'm in rehab."

"Rehab?" Tori looked confused. Of course she didn't understand.

"For walking."

Tori paused. "So…oh, no. that's awful. I'm so sorry." Sweet Victoria Vega. "When will you-you, know-if you'll-"

"Eventually. No offense, Tori, but I have a teacher to see and you'll be hearing me explain this a lot more times in first period."

"So welcome back, Matteo!" So there it was. One whole class down, a whole lot more classes to go. It felt good to talk to his friends again.

Kiara leaned over to Jared. "Why didn't you answer my texts yesterday?"

"It's a long story. Tell you after class." Only Jade seemed to notice their little side conversation. She raised her eyebrows, leaving Jared to shrink in his seat.

Ok, Dylan couldn't take the suspense anymore. "Ok, Sikowitz, what's the big news?"

Sikowitz beamed at his class. "Today, children, we decide what play we will be doing this year! Any suggestions?"

**A/N: Yeah, any suggestions? If not, I have a few in mind to pick from. Musicals, I mean. Though straight plays are good, too. So, did you guys like this chapter? Matteo's part bugs me. As does his angst. But I finally got over telling the first block characters, so I can move forward! And yes, Dylan will have a section next time. It's been too long. And I know it took me forever to update. I have many excuses, all true, but I still feel guilty because I keep making promises to update quicker. Well, I'm working on another major fic and a whole fiction/not FF book with a friend, so honestly this isn't my first priority, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up. I hope you appreciate my honesty (omg, I sound so lamely dramatic) and still want to read. **

**So my ideas for plays…needs a fairly even balance of boys and girls. Actually since our OC cast has 4 girls and 2 boys, I have the perfect play…but I ty to stick to the show's wholesomeness (at least in language) and this play is a bit mature in subject. Oh well, not like they'd actually be acting it out in front of you. OK, ignore that rant! Play ideas? And please, please review?**


	19. How Long Must This Go On

**A/N: In simple terms; I wasted my free time during the summer and now that I want to write, I barely have time (if you want to read this same explanation in fairy tale form, feel free to visit the 51rst chapter of my other current story). You guys are usually so understanding. So thanks in advance. I'm neglectful, but now that I finally have a play for them to do, the road blocks have been removed and we can get going! That is, when I have time between school and rehearsals…mainly school. Okay, here you are! Thanks, you guys! **

"And?" Jade said petulantly.

"And nothing," Sikowitz answered. "That's my announcement. So, let us begin! Play suggestions, anyone?"

The kids looked around and murmured, trying to see who would be the first to speak. After a few more second and Sikowitz prompting them to not be shy, Dylan cautiously lifted a meek hand. "Anything Goes?"

"Noted." Sikowitz scribbled the title onto his clipboard. "Next!"

"Um…Into the woods," Tori suggested. "Or Pippin?"

"Thank you, Tori. Those are possible. Come on, children, where is your imagination? Boldly go where no other high school has gone before! A little more originality please."

"How about Shakespeare?" Robbie added. Everyone groaned. "What?"

"C'mon, man," Andre said, "we don't want to learn all that old English. You remember how hard that is?" Robbie tilted his head, thinking bad on how he flunked a Shakespeare monologue in freshman year.

"Can I take back my suggestion?"

"Si senior," Sikowitz allowed.

"Besides," Andre continued, "we ought to do a musical so I can play piano."

Eve raised her hand.

"Eve," Sikowitz said, "before you continue let me note that hand raising is unnecessary. Quickly, now! Rapid fire suggestions, kids! Shout them out!"

"A chorus line!" Eve said loudly.

"25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee!" said Cat, to which Eve agreed even though she's never heard of the musical. "Or Beauty and the Beast!"

"No!" Jared and Jade said at the same time (while everyone else smiled and agreed). Jared's eyes widened as if he expected Jade to bark at him or something.

Sikowitz rubbed his eyes. This was proving to be a challenge.

By the end of the period, all they had added to their list was 12 Angry Men, Little Shop of Horrors, The Fantastiks, and The Drowsy Chaperone.

"Alright," Sikowitz concluded, "I'll post all of these on The Slap during lunch and whichever ends up with the most votes is what we'll do."

* * *

><p>Dylan watched the clock a few days later. The had two minutes left English, her favorite, then onto her music class with Beth.<p>

She had been feeling a little bit better since the showcase, like the dust was starting to settle. Yes, her mom was sick, but yes, she was going to be okay. That's what she kept saying to herself. She could roll with the punches. She had to.

"Remember, your essays on rhetoric devices are due in two classes," her teacher, a thirty something redhead announced. Great, yet another assignment. She could look forward to a totally busy week, on top of everything else going on in her life.

Once the bell rang, she picked up her book bag and trudged down the hall to her black, neon splattered locker. She put her in combination and deposited some binders and a text book, running into Beth on her way to music.

"Hey Beth! I was about to go looking for you."

"Well, here I am"! Beth spread out her arms and smiled.

"Ready for another fun class?" Her question was sarcastic.

Beth tilted her head. "Of course! So…how are you? You know, with your mom…"

"I know. Yeah. I'm doing okay. Of course, Lane just had to pull me out of class and now I have more work to make up."

"C'mon, he was trying to help."

"Did I ask him for help?" She looked at Beth. "Okay, fine, you're right."

"As usual."

Dylan playfully shoved her friend. "Let's just go before we're late."

Luckily their music teacher let them have free reign that day. _Yes_. She spent her time wisely, starting a brand new original composition. See, she couldn't talk about her feelings to other people. Music was where she got thought out. She could have deep, emotional conversations between her fingers and the strings of her guitar. _This_ was what she needed, not some sappy counselor or a pat on the back.

It was turning out to be a divine ballad, one of her best works to date. She'd have to play it for Jake when she finished it. She smiled, strumming note after beautiful note. This was way better than English homework, for sure.

"I like it," Beth interrupted. "Do you have a name for it?"

"I don't know if it needs one," she said, thinking _it speaks for itself. _"But I'll think about that."

As Beth was about to speak, the loud speaker ran over her voice. "Attention students, this is Sikowitz speaking! The polls are in! We shall be doing Beauty and the Beast as our next musical." You could practically here Jade and the boys whining already. And Cat cheering. "But we will be putting a twist on it. Further details will be provided after casting. Auditions will be-"

Another voice could be heard in the background. "Sikowitz, what are you doing with the microphone?"

"Friday. Thank you!" The speaker was cut off.

Beauty and the Beast was fine with Dylan. She had always had a thing for Disney; the love stories, the songs, the colors-the happy endings.

Being in a Disney story would be nice.

**A/N: There it is! I'm so, so sorry I took FOREVER to update. Hopefully you enjoyed this severely delayed chapter. They'll probably all be about this length now to make updating more manageable. Oh, and thank you for voting! I had 50% for Beauty and the Beast, and 25% for both Little Shop of Horrors and A Chorus line. None of which I own, obviously. Thank you for being ridiculously patient and I hoped this chapter was alright ****J**


	20. Tomorrow

**A/N: Are you guys still reading? Didn't get many reviews…that's fine (considering I'm horrible with updates, to be fair) but I just want to make sure you guys still read, in case I wanted to ask stuff about the future of your character. I considered asking what role they wanted, but I think I'll look at my character chart and base it partially off of what their main talent it, and after that, just what suit's the character and plot best. There's going to be some casting jealousy for drama, but all of them will be cast. Anyways, thanks to everyone who voted on the play, reads this, and to Jimmyjr88 for reviewing ****:)**

"Kiki, we need to talk."

Kiara's face went hot. He wasn't going to break up with her, was he? Oh, gosh…

"About why I didn't answer your texts."

Oh no, he was, wasn't he?

"Something happened with my sister." Phew. Bullet dodged. "My mom's _boyfriend" _he spat the word, "was creeping on my sister. I shoved him and cops got involved."

Well, the relief Kiki felt was already gone. "Oh my gosh! What did the police do? Did they send the creep to jail? Is your sister okay? What did your mom do? Jared!"

"Calm down, give me a minute to explain." He sat at the lunch table bench with a heavy sigh. "I think they're going to do an investigation. I'm not in trouble. I don't think. How can I be? The creep was grabbing Cara and I had to do something!"

"I'm glad you did," Kiki said, taking a seat next to her boyfriend. "Wow, I hope he gets sent to jail. That's horrible. Gross and nasty and creepy and wrong and horrible."

Jared took a long, deep breath. "I wish my mom would stop dating these kinds of guys."

"She's dated others?"

"All of her boyfriends are bad news. All of them, I swear. And she's so blind to it. I mean, what's wrong with her? How can you not notice that the guy you're dating is a scumbag?"

"I don't know, Jared. But I'm sorry." She rested her head on his broad shoulder.

* * *

><p>Trina dipped her paintbrush into a cup of water spinning with color. She looked at Anna and beamed. "We are so getting an A on this." Anna crossed her arms and marveled at what their team work produced. It was a large sculpture of a realistic ballet shoe with untied laces. A hand on either side was tugging at the lace, just as Anna had described it. It looked fantastic.<p>

"We could pass this as professional, even," Anna noted.

"Totally." Trina high fived her partner. "You know, I actually, sorta had fun on this. Sorry about the whole Hunter thing."

"Enough about Hunter," Anna brushed it off. "Yeah. This was fun. We should collaborate more often. Are you really as good of a dancer as you say you are?"

Trina did a double take. "Girl, have you seen me? I'm a star! Oh; I see what you're getting at. A dance duet?"

Anna shrugged. "It might be fun." She started washing out brushes and took off her smock. "You're a lot cooler than everyone says. No offense."

Trina shifted her eyes. "Gee thanks. None taken, I guess."

The girls took one final look at their project. "It's perfect," Anna said. Trina turned off the lights of the art room and the two girls walked outside, satisfied with their sculpture and new found friendship.

Eve was discussing the upcoming auditions for Beauty and the Beast with Cat.

"I guess you got your wish. We're doing your play," Eve smiled bashfully.

Cat giggled. "I know, it's it fun? I love Beauty and the Beast! Especially Mrs. Potts." She gasped. "Maybe I'll get her!"

"You're so good at singing, you probably will," Eve complimented.

"Awe, thanks. Your dancing is really good, too."

"Thanks."

"So, who do you want?"

"What?"

"What character, silly!"

Eve wrung her hands. "Oh. I haven't thought about it much. Well, maybe Babette. She dances, right?"

"They all dance! It's a musical!"

"Right. It doesn't matter much to me, as long as I get a part." Now that Cat had her thinking, she started listing out all of the characters in her head. Which would she be best for? Who did she want? A better question yet, who was she likely to get?

"Be positive. Maybe you'll be Belle."

Eve shook her head. Short blonds with buckteeth who dress as converse never got to be the princess, for some stupid reason. "I don't think so."

"Chin up,' the redhead offered, "the sun will come out tomorrow!"

Eve giggled. "You're quoting Annie? Really?"

"Awe, man, I should have suggested Annie, too!"

* * *

><p>Soon enough, the bell rang signaling the end of Friday, and a menagerie of kids headed into the black box theater for auditions. Sikowitz was excited, as he almost always was at auditions. It was a chance to kick back, drink some coconut juice, get some visions, and watch his students shine.<p>

"Sikowtiz," Beck started after ten minutes had passed, "aren't you going to give out auditions sheets or start, you know, auditioning?"

"Ah, Beck, the key to directing is patience." Sikowitz, leaned back for another good full minute. "Okay. Now we will begin. Good afternoon, children! Thank you all for attending this audition for Beauty and the Beast. Sinjin is going to give out audition sheets, which you will then stack here," he made and elaborate gesture towards a table set up in the back of the room. "I will call you up in whatever order your audition sheet comes up. Good luck to you all and may the force be with you." He marched back to his directors chair. Once Sinjin had handed him the stack, he grabbed the first paper and said "our first to sing will be Trina Vega!"

Students moaned. Oh well, at least they'd get the worst out of the way first.

Her song was painful, as expected, in sharp contrast to her sister's beautiful performance. There were only a few gems amongst the kids singing wise, but most could hold their own vocally. After singing, Sikowitz had everyone do a scene between Belle and the Beast. Matteo read with Dylan, Beth read with Robbie, Jared read with Cat, and Jared read with Eve. Anna read with Hunter (lucky coincidence), Kiki read with a cute senior (who she would have noticed if she wasn't already smitten and taken), Andre was partnered with a shy freshman girl, Beck read with Trina, and Jade read with a sophomore named Harold. There were many other pairs in between, of course, and after the long day, Sikowitz went home to decide on his cast.

**A/N: To be honest with you, I'm not a fan of the last bit of this chapter. I really wanted to just put out the cast list, but I thought I should give you guys a chance to comment on that, in a review or PM. Thanks you so, so much for reading and if you have any preference for your character or an idea for another, feel free to tell me. Have an awesome day/night.**


	21. Astonishing

**A/N: Oh how I wish I could respond to annonymous reviews. Guest, thank you for reviewing, but I am confused...wait...NO. Thank you. I messed something up, grr. Thanks.**

Jay drove Beth home from the audition that day. They sat in the two front seats of his truck, Beth playing with the knobs on his car radio. "Oh, I hate the suspense," the girl broke the silence. "I don't even mind what part I get, really, I just don't like not knowing."

Jay smiled. It was a sort of amused half smile. She _loved _that smile. "You're great, Beth. Whatever part you want, I bet you got it."

"Oh really? How much would you bet that Tori Vega will get Belle?"

"You wanted Belle?" He looked confused as he stared down the road, steering with one hand.

"Well, no. I wouldn't mind-I only mean that the lead is one role I'm not thinking about. Tori probably has it." Beth even heard a freshman girl say last week that they might as well not bother to audition because everyone already knew who would get the biggest roles. It was so predictable. Even Trina got roles just because she was in Sikowitz's little group of favorite students (well, related to one f the kids in the group, anyways. Only Trina would consider herself a direct top choice of their director).

"Maybe Tori will," Jay said. "She's good, but she gets everything. It's not fair, you know? Because she's buddy-buddy with Sikowitz. Someone else should get a chance to get the experience. How's anybody supposed to get better at acting if they never get big roles?"

"Tori's s nice, it's not as if she casts herself…though still, you have a point. I know a lot of us are already supposed to be good at acting, and some…well, have a reason for getting the parts they get, but there are a lot of talented kids left in the dust."

"That's what I'm saying. Sikowitz picks the same people because he knows what kind of performance they'll give. No risks."

"I suppose that's right. How'd you get so smart, Jay?"

"From hanging around you."

They grinned at each other as he drove, both free from the glares of Jade and whininess of single girls that came in their school.

* * *

><p>"C'mon, where's the stupid list?" Jade West huffed, pacing down the hallway to kill time.<p>

"Why do you care so much about the cast? Babe, you don't even _like _this musical," her boyfriend reasoned.

Robbie looked offended. "How can anyone dislike Disney?! It's so pure and innocent."

"And adorable!" Cat chimed in.

"Because," Jade said, "Beck's going to get a lead and if anybody is kissing him, it's going to be me. There's a whole line of stupid girls waiting for their chance, and they're going to end up with my boot in their face."

"The girl's aggressive today," Andre whispered to Tori.

"It's Jade, she's always aggressive."

Andre shrugged. "No arguing there."

"Hey!" Jade called at them. She then turned to Cat. _Of all the plays, why Beauty and the Beast? Why a kid's play_? Oh, why was she surprised, this was Cat after all. She practically was a kid. "Nice going, Cat."

The red head pouted in confusion. "What did I do?" she asked innocently as Sikowitz's voice rang out from behind them. "Good morning, children!"

Morning!" Tori chirped. "So…got the cast list yet?"

"Ah, but of course! What kind of director would I be if I had no cast?"

"Great! So, can we see it?"

"Not yet. You know how it works, you can find out the parts when I announce it to the whole cast."

"Please?" Tori put on her best pouting face, getting Cat to join her (and, unintentionally, Robbie as well). Sikowitz looked like he was just about to give in before getting a grip off himself, going into the classroom, and slamming the door. "Sorry, children!" He yelled from the other side. "You'll find out in first period with the others!"

* * *

><p>When Jared got to class that morning, Sikowitz's door was being swarmed by his friends, mainly girls. They were like bees, zipping around and buzzing like mad. Beck looked nonplussed, though the tiniest of smiles was on is face. It was easy to get the feeling that if it weren't for his closest friend's jabbering about the play, he would have looked at his character, smiled, congratulated whoever was standing near him who was cast, and walked away.<p>

Sikowitz was apparently barricaded in his room, though it was hard to say if that was planned or if he just didn't consider that gaggles of students would position themselves in front of his door. Jared had seen him through a window as he walked in earlier, a few minutes later than usual thanks to a fight with his mom. She was still mad at him, but he thought she was trying to hide that she was mad at herself, since she brought that creepy boyfriend into their lives.

He tried to shove thoughts of his mom away, knowing that he couldn't do anything about it at school. He decided to enjoy the peace and even got caught up in the excitement of the cast being announced.

"Jared." He turned at the sound of his name.

Matteo rolled his wheelchair closer to his classmate. "Waiting for the cast list?"

"I guess."

There was a pause before Matteo spoke up. "I know it."

Jared looked down at him. "You do?"

"Yeah. I helped make it." He looked up, realizing an explanation was in order. "I'm helping Sikowitz direct, since I don't have time to learn lines. Not like I can sing anyways. Or dance…" the boy looked awkwardly at the floor for a second. "But hey, not like I'm dying to play a candlestick either."

Jared grinned lazily. "Yeah, guess I'm not either. Wait, I'm not the candlestick, am I?"

"Nah." Matteo smiled. "That's Sinjin."

"You're messing with me."

"I wish." He let out a short laugh. "Dude, course it's not Sinjin."

"Who is it then?"

Matteo gestured to the door as he saw the handle turn. "go look for yourself."

Jared waited until he saw Kiki approach and laced his fingers between hers. Wordlessly, the couple walked into the classroom.

The bell rang and all the latecomers walked in behind them, taking their seats. Sikowitz clapped his hands together, then wrung them anxiously. "Alright! I know that everyone's mind is on the cast, so let me get greetings out of the way. Good morning. You all did great at auditions, blah blah blah, now onto the cast!" He looked excited now, leaning forward.

"I've already talked to Matteo, but the rest of you pay attention." he looked at his eager students, adding, "as if I needed to tell you so."

He looked at them, trying to supply a dramatic pause. He then took a deep breath and started. "The part of Maurice, Belle's father, will be played by Robbie."

Robbie raised his hand. "but Maurice doesn't sing."

Sikowitz looked at him briefly, before proclaiming "moving on!" He looked down at his clipboard. "The three silly girls will be played by Cat, Eve, and Kiara."

"Yay!" Cat cheered.

"Beth will be playing the Wardrobe, Jade will be Babette the feather duster, and Tori will be playing Mrs. Potts." Some people were shocked. Tori wasn't the lead? Then who...

"Andre will be playing Lumiere the candlestick and Jared will be Gaston. And for our leads, Beauty and the Beast, we have Dylan and Beck. The rest of the cast list will be posted outside for anyone not in the class. Pick up scripts on your way out, because our first rehearsal is tomorrow. Any questions?"

Everyone looked at Dylan, who sat wide eyes with her mouth opened. She was so shy about her singing. She never thought she'd beat out the infamous Tori Vega for a role.

Matteo, sitting next to her, whispered "don't look so freaked, it's a good thing. You deserve this."

"Th-thank you," she stuttered, still reeling in the surprise of it all.

**A/N: I am so sorry it took this long. I had all of it done up to the cast list, but for some reason I couldn't figure that out. I had writer's block again, like this was some big hurdle that I had to jump over. I may take a hiatus on this soon to plan future chapters so my update time will then be quicker, but that probably won't be for a little while. Next chapter will have some Eve, a scene with Matteo and Dylan, and some Kiara probably. Well, probably everyone will be mentioned. We'll see. I hope you liked this, and I'm really sorry I was procrastinating. I keep saying that, but I really want to continue this. I just need to regroup and get more organized, do a little planning, but I fully intend to see this through in case any of you wonder. I also want to develop the characters some more, so that their dialogue voices are more distinctive, but I want to do it without making it seem like I've suddenly changed how they talk entirely. I'll let you know in advance when the hiatus will be, and that won't be long. Probably about as long as the normal lull between updates. Sorry guys. I love you all for reading.**


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